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Birdy (バーディ, Bādi) (by Gary Straights) Purple (紫, Murasaki) (by Rosa Dimaggio) Sejjey (セジ, Seji) (by Excellen Kilekion) DSC-X300A—TSUR-UK-0 Deus Machina Number Three (ＤＳＣ-Ｘ300Ａ-ＴＳＵＲ-ＵＫ-0 デウス・マキナ・三号, Deusu Makina Sangō; short for Dzerve Sejren Custom—Xceed Three Hundred Absolutes: Tactical Soul Unison Robot-Ultimate Katastrophe-unit Zero; production number) The Strongest Fighting Machine (最強の決戦機, Saikyō no Kessenki) Mahesvara (世界最強の武道家, Maeshubara lit. Greatest Martial Artist in the World) (after Daybreak S2, inherited from Elucifer Mercury) "Superhero" (正義の味方, Sūpāhīrō lit. Ally of Justice)
"I'll support a body that sinks as much as the weight of the pain it endures, as long as I have supple springs! I can realize the preciousness of the light that I can see, past the times of sadness! Joy is my hope; you are the temperature!"
— Tsuruko's theme, Butterfly Sky
"Shut up. I've listened to you drone on long enough. You do terrible things, and then you say it's all just destiny's will! Well I've got some very bad news for you… There's no such thing as destiny! There's only what you do, and what you don't do! Listen, I realize that life is nothing more than a series of chain reactions. If my mother had never discovered that damned particle, the wars would never have happened. Terra would still be a full world instead of five, my friends like Gary and Rosa would never have had to grow up like that, thus leading up to this day. But Giselle is Giselle; she isn't some cosmic chess piece! And as for my friends and all of that stuff they've had to go to go through, don't you dare tell me that's fate, don't tell me everything happened because it was meant to! That's a lie! It happened because of you and choices you made!"
— Tsuruko Sejren, to Mr. E, Daybreak S2, Now Depart For The Front Line! Infinity Style!.
Ethel Sejren (エセル・セジュレン, Eseru Sejuren, lit. Noble Victory), more commonly known by her nickname of "Tsuruko" (鶴子, Tsuruko lit. Crane Child), lastly known by her body's production number of DSC-X300A—TSUR-UK-0 Deus Machina Number Three (ＤＳＣ-Ｘ300Ａ-ＴＳＵＲ-ＵＫ-0 デウス・マキナ・三号, Deusu Makina Sangō; short for Dzerve Sejren Custom—Xceed Three Hundred Absolutes: Tactical Soul Unison Robot-Ultimate Katastrophe-unit Zero) is a young woman who is a survivor of the dark ritual, she was able to subdue her emerging symbiote, by holding onto hope. This gave her the ability to use the Phoenix Driver granted to her by the Phoenix Knight. With her new power, she sets out in order to make friends with everyone and unite the world via peace. She is the main character of the prequel of Fairy Tail: Dawn story, known as Daybreak Chapter: A Change of Perspective; in it, she experiences more than she had hoped for in way of the dark side of the world; Tsuruko has a general distaste for magic, preferring to rely on her own skill in martial arts, which, to be fair, can suspend the laws of physics, to deal with her enemies.
As it revealed in the Kaizorg Tsuruko arc, Tsuruko is, in fact, a Deus Machina (デウス・マキナ, Deusu Makina lit. God Machine) created by Dzerve Sejren, a cybernetic organism that combines living and mechanical body parts (i.e. an organism that has both artificial and natural systems) and is specifically designed for battle; as her soul was installed into the Deus Machina Number Three body which came from the Old World, because as a child, she was terminally ill; the transformation was a last resort. For some reason, Tsuruko possesses the mysterious Zero Effect, which is capable of destroying all forms of magic. The mere existence of the Zero Effect is what makes her a threat to all magical organizations, and several antagonists in Daybreak want that power for themselves.
As the main protagonist, Tsuruko's point-of-view allows the audience to become acquainted to the mysterious world of the Sun Trilogy, and is mostly involved in the events of the past. Tsuruko has a very strong desire to aid all those who are in need even if it means putting her life on the line, and will not hesitate to challenge an opponent who is several times more powerful than herself. Because of her willingness to help others unconditionally, she has attracted the friendship of many characters in the series, which Giselle jokes about, stating that her life is like a dating simulation where she is bound to unlock more paths to more characters. When Tsuruko revs the Drive Lever of the Phoenix Driver, she becomes Soul Armour Knight Gaiki (神鎧纏最高戦士 (ソウル・アーマー・ナイト) ・凱輝 (ガイキ), Sōru Āmā Naito Gaiki lit. God Armour Clad Supreme Warrior Shining Victory); in Daybreak S3, Tsuruko can transform into Soul Armour Knight Gaiki Kai (神鎧纏最高戦士 (ソウル・アーマー・ナイト) ・凱輝・改 (ガイキ・カイ), Sōru Āmā Naito Gaiki Kai lit. God Armour Clad Supreme Warrior Shining Victory Revised), an upgraded version of the Gaiki Soul Armour.
Tsuruko is a girl with dark purple hair and pupils which are colored dark blue on the top half and a mix of pink and pale yellow on the bottom half. She is stated to have "the height of your average Japanese schoolgirl" by Gary, and she has a slender, waifish build. Fiora Asakura comments that Tsuruko is a "annoying pretty girl", and Gary also occasionally calls her "pure face"; a member of the Magic Council also called her a "beautiful maiden". Tsuruko's skin is also said to be so white and smooth that it appears almost like she’s made of porcelain. Her facial features are very child-like to the point that when she smiles, it is completely radiant. She has snow-white skin that is akin to a princess's; along with a beautiful figure—moderately large breasts, long, slender legs, and a shapely rear. An onlooker described her as "an impossibly beautiful girl." Due to her kind appearance, it is easier to see what Tsuruko is feeling. Unlike Giselle Mercury or Jason LaHote; this also makes her easier to talk to, though someone would have to try harder if she was upset about something or her attention was focused elsewhere.
Her hair is tied back using a butterfly-shaped hair accessory, sharing the same colour scheme as her attire. Tsuruko's casual attire consists of a cap, a red short sleeved shirt that exposes a very large portion of her midriff, a short yellow hoodie, a necklace around her neck with a puzzle piece-shaped pendant, and a low-cut green colored denim skirt with a brown pouch around her waist. She also wears a yellow bracelet on her left wrist accompanied with a ring on her pinkie finger, and knee-length brown medium heeled boots with yellow stripes on the sides.
In her Kaizorg form, Tsuruko has luminescent blue eyes that make her appear quite akin to the ideal of beauty in the current age; though her hair remains the same. Any traces of humanity are not there in terms of her body, as she possesses a cybernetic body, including sprouting shoulder-pads, high-collared neck armour, ear-like protrusions on her head which are similar to boosters, armour covering her pelvic and the sides of her abdominal region, and similarly coloured armour on her thighs; however, she has golden lining at her shoulders, upper forearms, and thighs. Her most evident cybernetic portions are above her thighs, at her shoulder-blades, and supposed lack of feet; and what isn't cybernetic reveals that her bodily joints are like that of a doll's.
Personality and Traits
As Kirika Hotsuin noted to Deen Lhant in the chapter Strength of the Silver Flash arc of Daybreak, a person's personality and values can be gauged by observing their fighting style, no matter how they may act outside of danger. Indeed, Tsuruko Sejren's personality is shown through her childish nature, as well as her fighting style. She is shown to be impulsive, naïve, and innocent, but when necessary, she can be serious and dependable. Tsuruko, when outside of battle, is generally shy, highly nervous and constantly stuttering speech-wise when around people she is intimidated by or does not know yet, though she projects a certain air of calmness which hides her burning passion. Due to not interacting with people her own age for a good part of her life, aside from her time at the Chateau des Tiffauges orphanage, Tsuruko has rather stunted social skills and has difficulty communicating properly with others; she's prone to becoming very animated and talkative, gesturing broadly and providing sound effects; people have called her "adorably dorky".
Tsuruko seems to suffer from a severe lack of confidence in regards to non-battle matters, often doubting her own decisions and expressing distress over her position as the technical leader of her team. Despite the great power she possesses, she always defers to Giselle Mercury, and later, Excellen Kilekion when it comes to tough choices, and rarely wants to take the spotlight, even when her friends encourage her to do so; a result of her low self-esteem or a guilt complex. She honestly and truly doesn't think of herself as any better than anyone else, despite the great deeds she's done, or the inspiration she's become. In fact, such praise usually just embarrasses her; and even so, she's not going to ever let unpopularity stop her from helping others; she enjoys helping people in need.
In contrast to the above, when it comes to her combat prowess, Tsuruko displays an arrogant streak a mile wide; she's very proud of her incredible power, and loves showing it off; however, while she doesn't go out of her way to seek a conflict or hurt people, there's no doubt Tsuruko loves a good fight with anyone that can challenge her. She even tells Kaguya Kobayashi that she's "a power beyond these meager magicians, beyond any of these stupid titles", displaying an almost smug sense of superiority regarding magicians- Tsuruko's strength is beyond anything in the current universe, and she's very savvy about it. Although she is highly skilled in battle, as a contrast to her usually subdued self, in combat, Tsuruko is extremely reckless and impulsive, attacking on sight by overwhelming her opponent through her superior physical skills instead of thinking the situation through beforehand; because of this, she tends to cause a lot of collateral damage. This cockiness and berserker fighting style can sometimes lead her to becoming overconfident, though over time, she learns to reign this aspect of her personality in. However, let it not be said that Tsuruko is unintelligent- despite having a rather low IQ, Tsuruko Sejren is shown to be quite tactical and displays flashes of brilliance in battle, making intense mathematical calculations to land many of her strikes while thinking of unique ways to harness the full scope of her abilities.
As Tsuruko was raised in an orphanage and was read to by her caretaker often about the heroic exploits of Phoenix Knight, Tsuruko developed a strong sense of justice, a trait she mimicked from her childhood hero. These stories are what gave her the ideals that she wished to live by and uphold throughout her life; it could be said that Phoenix Knight is the defining catalyst in her behaviour; because of the knight, Tsuruko's desire to become a "superhero" formed, and she subconsciously began to emulate Phoenix Knight; displaying eccentrics like posing; pre-battle speeches and calling her attacks that makes Tsuruko resemble more traditional "heroes" in shōnen anime. However, despite being seemingly idealistic, Tsuruko has said on multiple occasions that she doesn't believe in the "ridiculous notion" that all people are inherently good, but she does like and believe that she can redeem most people.
Additionally, Tsuruko normally acts like a klutz; she's definitely not known for her grace. She bumbles and fumbles at seemingly anything she does, tripping over things a fair bit; only Tsuruko could accidentally kick a pen into a highway right in front of a passing car while trying to pick it up. This dizziness extends to her romantic life; she is completely oblivious to Excellen's increasingly obvious crush on her until a certain point; this also extends to nearly everyone else's feelings for her. However, despite this, it is not well-known that Tsuruko actually actively encourages her reputation as an incompetent fool on occasion in order to keep people from bothering with her, and thus not worry about her. Tsuruko doesn't like for a lot of attention to be drawn towards her, as shown when she told Giselle she didn't want people to think she was special after her "Zero Power" was revealed to the world at large. But because of her nature, it is increasingly obvious that Tsuruko is doing this to become the best she can be in order to best help others; saying that "you don't need a reason to help somebody".
As part of her father's parting words to her, Tsuruko's greatest desire is to make friends with nearly everyone; because of this, she's willing to go the extra mile and do bizarre things to get to know someone she wants to befriend better. She puts friendship above anything else and values every friend that she has, to the point of breaking down in tears whenever she hears a sad story of someone she considers a friend. She also has a special handshake she does with her friends and is commonly used when Tsuruko makes a new friend. The reason she does so is because she wants to see that person she befriends smile, which is the best feeling one could have. However, despite this, as part of her semi-flawed morality system, as much as she wants to be a paragon, she does it out of a sense of duty because her being a Deus Machina leaves her unable to understand a lot of people, hence why she's not good with art or music - they're contingent on expression. It's generally unintentional whenever she treats a friend badly, such as accidentally insulting Kaguya a few times or making note of Deen's inferiority complex. At the same time, this flaw has a few benefits; as she saw everyone as "the same", she was also to reach out to Sion Kenzaki, a Hellion, who are a species that terrorized mankind, as she didn't see her as an eldritch horror, but rather, a normal person. Thanks to Excellen, Tsuruko eventually gains empathy for others, however.
However, in terms of relations, Tsuruko can be seen as a minor hypocrite- while she constantly preaches that she sees everyone as equal in her eyes, and indeed, when it comes to social status, race, and power-levels, she does; however, find it somewhat difficult to truly connect with somebody on a deeper level beyond friendships, mainly because of the incident during her time in the orphanage where she lost her first friend, Charlotte Merquise, over a nasty misunderstanding which led to Charlotte believing that Tsuruko turned her in to the Magic Council when she was planning a terrorist attack against them- as Charlotte was found by the Rune Knights while Tsuruko attempted to present herself as the leader of their group, due to seeing Tsuruko talking to the Rune Knight, Charlotte believed that Tsuruko sold her out, and was taken away before Tsuruko could explain herself properly- though given Charlotte's deranged mental state at the time, it probably wouldn't have done much good. This whole incident led to a fear of developing a relationship closer than friendship with anyone, whether it be familial, a "best friend" kind of deal, or even romantic- for example, even when believing she was interested in Gary, she felt awkward whenever he attempted to flirt with her; she was incapable of her true feelings to anyone, as she thought it would cause them to turn their backs on her. This also ties in to Tsuruko's almost phobic reactions to Giselle and Hikari, her mother and sister, respectively- while she was still mad at the former for not recognizing that the two were related sooner and still treating her like an acquaintance after the revelation of their true connection, her disdain was partly a reactionary response to having to deal with actually having a living blood-related parent in her life now.
In regards to the latter, while Tsuruko's inaction on going to save Hikari can be explained by her poor mental state at the time, it can also be explained by the same measure. When she does go to help Hikari in Daybreak S1's final arcs when she is kidnapped again, it takes Giselle actually losing her temper at her and Excellen slapping sense into Tsuruko, whereas before she coldly brushed it off, feeling that while she would save Hikari, it was because she was in trouble, and she didn't really see the blue-haired girl as her sister, as the two barely knew each other, seeing no obligation to protect Hikari out of any blood-ties but rather, Tsuruko would save Hikari because she felt like saving her. The most prominent example of this forced distant behaviour is when Excellen confessed to Tsuruko in the penultimate chapter of the Esper Excellen Part II arc on Daybreak S1- experiencing a rush of confusing emotions, Tsuruko couldn't properly respond, devolving to a gibbering mess internally before immediately running away so that she wouldn't have to answer- it wasn't until Excellen was in serious danger, about to be killed by the dracolich, that Tsuruko could finally muster up the courage to shout how she actually felt about her out to Excellen in the heat of the moment.
Because of this, Marisa Sejren makes the uncanny observation that while outwardly, Tsuruko is kind and friendly, on the inside she really is like her mother; being rather cold and distant to everyone- but while Giselle is aloof because she's given up caring about the rest of the world besides her children after Alphonse's death, Tsuruko is as such out of a pathological fear of advancing relationships, though by the end of the Esper Excellen Part II arc, she had improved significantly, if only for Excellen herself, and later for Hikari when protecting her from Charlotte- but this was completely abolished by the time she made up with Giselle. While Tsuruko acknowledged that more often than not, people would never turn their backs on her for admitting their true feelings, it was still an intense fear. While for some, this aloofness might come as a surprise, but for Excellen, the one who probably suffered the most because of Tsuruko's dithering nature, she notes that they really are similar despite Tsuruko and Excellen being described as "fire and ice" respectively - while Tsuruko is nice, underneath that is someone who is a lot like Excellen herself, a person who is distant and somewhat cold, bringing up Tsuruko's habit of being insensitive when not thinking, as proof that she isn't nearly as nice as she pretends to be. However, Excellen doesn't blame her as she figured out why Tsuruko is like that, and notes that she's happy that they aren't just polar opposites- indeed, while Tsuruko is kind yet a bit distant when serious, Excellen is composed, yet quite friendly underneath- Excellen finds that part of Tsuruko to be someone she can relate to and be herself with.
Tsuruko's own experiences and influences from her childhood has caused her to have a sometimes rather subtle dislike for magicians and their society; because of her utmost adoration of Phoenix Knight, she refuses to acknowledge magicians and the existence of "guilds", indeed, this is shown whenever she battles a magician, often lightly mocking them while displaying her belief that knights are superior. Even though she is enrolled in a magical academy, Tsuruko often skips the magic-related classes and only comes in for physical education. However, she isn't completely bigoted; as when Kaguya told her of her desire to become a member of the Wizard Saints, Tsuruko complimented her, telling her that she wished Kaguya luck. Even so, her disinterest towards anything magic-related is apparent in that she tends to zone out whenever somebody attempts to explain a magical term to her or a major magician-centric event, often asking if she can skip out on it- indeed, when she meets Leanne Rockwell, the "Strongest Magician in the World", Tsuruko knocks one of her front teeth out because Tsuruko mistook her being a "Wizard Saint" with the Ku Klux Klan title Grand Wizard. It is hinted that as a Deus Machina, whom were designed to destroy the irregularity referred to as "Magic" in the Old World, part of this prejudice is an in-born trait.
Interestingly, numerous hints throughout the series suggest that Tsuruko has Asperger syndrome: Tsuruko is the only fighter to count the number of attacks during battle, including multiple automatic weapons; this coupled with her ability to identify the make and model of firearms allows her to ascertain when enemies are reloading, and just by sight, she is capable of discerning the makeup of spells, even by just hearing the sound it makes through the phone, and she has an unusual affinity for animals and is able to 'converse' with Kaguya's pet cat. As stated before, Tsuruko also shows an inability to pick up on social clues and a lack of empathy on the cognitive level, rather than being void of it entirely. Another characteristic is her voice, which stays relatively monotone and changes only in response to strong emotions, especially if she's in a fight, where she tends to go from detached to screaming her lungs out. The possibility of Tsuruko being on the autism spectrum is directly addressed in the first chapter of Kaguya's arc; when asked if she is autistic, Tsuruko seriously considers the possibility.
Strawberry ice-cream is one of the few things she is fond of, but it is also one of the things that she hates. She despises cold food, but always seems to buy it from the convenience store. It is revealed in flashbacks that Tsuruko collects comics and was a fan of the Earth Land equivalent of Batman when she was young. She becomes a fan of Gaikou Ryuusei's works when she is much older. Before she begins a battle, Tsuruko proclaims "Now, it's showtime!" (さあ、ショータイムだ!, Saa, shōtaimu da!); whenever she executes one of her finishers, she declares, "The finale!" (フィナーレだ!, Fināre da!). During the climatic battle of each "season", Tsuruko normally varies her catchphrase by announcing "This is my showtime now!" (ここからは私のショータイムだ！, Koko kara wa watashi no shōtaimu da!).
History
"I will never lose hope!"
— Tsuruko's declaration.
Tsuruko's story began a long time before her birth- Tsuruko was originally a small part of the Creator God (創造神, Sōzōshin) the being that hatched out of an egg at the beginning of the universe. Becoming lonely due to a lack of other sentient life, the Creator God utilized its "Power of Zero" to create the rest of the universe. However, by doing so, the Creator God exhausted itself, almost dying in the process; shedding a single tear which contained all of its emotions and knowledge which traversed the dimensions, impacting upon Verde and enabling it to flourish into the world it is today. Using the last of its power, the Creator God split into two; the King of Darkness (闇の王, Yami no Ō) and the King of Light (光の王, Hikari no Ō); who began to fight one another.
After a long and arduous battle which resulted in the spawning of the exalts and magic, the King of Light was the winner; banishing it into the core of Aether. However, the King of Light feared the possibility of the King of Darkness awakening, placing a seal over the earth's crust before it split into four "possibilities", represented by purple streaks of light that scattered throughout the multiverse; resulting in four dimensional counterparts in Verde, Aether, Edolas, and Earth Land; which, when merged, would resurrect the King of Light in a sense. Tsuruko's soul was one of these purple lights, reincarnating when Giselle Mercury and Alphonse Sejren fell in love and eloped; their love soon gave birth to Tsuruko. However, upon birth, Tsuruko suffered from a rare, seemingly incurable disease- the Яeverse Phenomenon (Я「リバース」・フェノメノン, Ribāsu Fenomenon).
Giselle searched high and low for a cure, even making several breakthroughs in science and magic, all in vain- she even murdered several Wizard Saints in a futile attempt to get answers. However, one day, Deus Machina Number Three's capsule was left over after the Universal Reboot that shook Aether; Giselle found it. With the Deus Machina having lost its own Daybreak Drive's power-source- as her daughter was suffering from the Reverse disease, Giselle hastily transferred her daughter's soul into the Daybreak Drive, discarding her organic body and allowing her to live once more, free of disease; an action that Giselle came to regret ever since. This caused her physical attributes to shoot to something far beyond most (untrained) adults at the wee age of three. A year later, Tsuruko's younger sibling was created by the Magic Council under Giselle's supervision in order to get a pardon for Giselle killing the previous Wizard Saints, using her own DNA and Alphonse's in order to create a "stabilized" Corpse Shell.
Even so, an unknown force chased the family around, making it feel as if the universe was conspiring against them, pursued by an unknown assailant. It was revealed much later in Daybreak S3 that the reason why they were chased was because Tsuruko was now one of two remaining Deus Machina in existence, and her Power of Zero could serve as a wrench in the plans of Devius, who sent the Gremlin Hellion after Tsuruko. When the assailant caught up with the family in Four, the enemy donned a mysterious black Soul Armour which they used to nearly kill Alphonse, even though he attempted to use Proto-Gaiki against them. Giselle fought against the enemy with all of her might, managing to lop the foe's arm off and stab her Arms Weapon through the Soul Armour's visor, blinding them. However, the explosion caused by the attacker's Limit Break blew a young Tsuruko and Alphonse off of the cliff.
As Alphonse continued to hold Tsuruko even despite the damage he suffered from both the enemy and the fall, Ashley Briett, a mysterious seemingly-young woman who happened to be close to the cliff at the time, found them. With his last breaths, begged the woman to look after Tsuruko, and Ashley agreed. With the last of his strengths, Alphonse gave Tsuruko the Phoenix Driver and told her to never lose hope. Ashley then took them to her orphanage and buried Alphonse's body beside it; coincidentally near the cemetery of Four. Later, the distraught Giselle descended the cliff, but all that was left were Hellion corpses, half-eaten by monsters; believing that there was no way that Tsuruko and Alphonse would have survived, she despaired and left the vicinity.
As Tsuruko was taken into the orphanage, a young Charlotte Merquise stood up for her as some older children began to pick on her—the two teamed up to fight them off, with Tsuruko accidentally showing her super strength for the first time by crushing a bully's arm with a grab. After this, the two were placed in detention. During their short hour in detention, Charlotte and Tsuruko became fast friends, with Charlotte giving Tsuruko her nickname, and told her about her idol, "Phoenix Knight", a legendary superhero who saved those in need, inadvertently sparking Tsuruko's interest in superheroes; the two were told countless tales about the Phoenix Knight by Ashley after she heard Charlotte mention her.
During her childhood, Tsuruko was also neighbours with Gary Straights. Tsuruko grew up isolated from the rest of the village children, feeling herself to be better than them, though she longed for their friendship. She developed a crush on Gary, but hated his friends. Although the two consider each other (and are considered by others) to be childhood friends, by Gary's own account they were not close growing up, despite her having been his neighbour.
When Tsuruko was nine, Gary's mother died, and Gary insisted he could meet her again by crossing the mountains. Tsuruko followed, and when Gary was injured the townsfolk believed the expedition up the mountain to be Tsuruko's idea, and Gary's father forbade Tsuruko from approaching him. Tsuruko blamed herself thinking it was her weakness she failed to save him, and developed an anger problem, often getting into fights, but in spite of this she was still a quiet kid who rarely had much to do with the other kids in the village.
Noticing the run-down state of Four; which suffered from extensive urban decay, being mostly utilized as a plant to recycle garbage from other cities, Charlotte decided to become a "superhero" by protecting their home from anyone willing to do harm to it; first, by targeting the various sections of the city that were ruled by gangs. For this, she talked to two other members of the orphanage, Jack Titus and Carmine Fairchild, both of whom were also powerful in their own ways. The four formed the vigilante group known as the Allies of Justice (正義の味方「Ａ・Ｏ・Ｊ」, Seigi no Mikata), whom went around destroying what they perceived as oppression.
Together, the quartet managed to fight for their ideals, making the slums of Four a better place for all; showing a unique sense of unity, giving the poor a true glimpse of hope under the despairing circumstances of Four; slowly managing to conquer the city. However, during the fight with the final gang, the leader, Ashton Atlas, managed to knock Jack off of a roof, though Charlotte saved him and she and Tsuruko defeated Ashton using a double diving kick; the precursor to Tsuruko's Victorize Kick and Charlotte's own Dragoon Streiser. After conquering the city, Charlotte got into a fight with a small child who supported Ashton's rule over Four, nearly beating them to death, something that prompted Jack and Carmine to go against Charlotte and leave the team.
Later, when the Magic Council began arresting young adults in an attempt to stop the rioting, Charlotte decided to take action into her own hands and blew up a part of the Rune Knight's base in Four, ecstatic that she was going to free the people of her city from their oppression. Back at the orphanage, Tsuruko and Charlotte got into a spat over a candy bar; though it was more about Charlotte's growing sadism in regards to dealing out 'justice'. While Charlotte and Tsuruko were about to make up, Tsuruko was taken in by the Castellone Mafia, though the two managed to promise each other that they'd become superheroes and meet again.
The abandonment felt at the Allies of Justice' dissolution caused Charlotte to become obsessed with ruling Four forever and reuniting her group for their last fight against what Charlotte herself saw as the main body that oppressed their city- the Magic Council. Despite, all three other members of the group were in doubt that they could defeat the Magic Council as they were- however, Charlotte persisted, unlocking her Dragonar Mode in the process and using its immense power to mortally wound one of the Ten Wizard Saints. Before she could finish him off, Tsuruko interfered; managing to shove Charlotte under a busted table; attempting to take the heat by calling herself the leader of their gang in the hopes that they wouldn't arrest her friend.
However, that was all for naught—as she was found and arrested, as of the Rune Knights had already figured out that Charlotte was the leader and Tsuruko tried to convince that she was their leader; Charlotte saw Tsuruko trying to convince the council to let her go, and she mistakenly believed that Tsuruko had her purposely arrested. Furious, Charlotte attempted to fight her, but was held back by the council and was arrested; being thrown in jail.
The promise she made to her father to keep hope alive in her heart saved Tsuruko's life years later when she was among the humans sacrificed during a solar eclipse to create Hellions. Six months prior to the series, pro-soccer player Tsuruko Sejren was subjected among many others in a ritualistic sacrifice that created the demons on the day of a solar eclipse. While many died giving birth to their Hellions, Tsuruko managed to keep her Hellion, Star Phoenix from emerging by facing despair head on, gaining a newfound strength. Coming to after the eclipse ended, Tsuruko was attacked by one of the newly-born Hellion until she was saved by the mysterious Phoenix Knight who presented her with the Laser Ring so that she can access her belt's power and track down the Hellion and fight them. Motivated to give hope and save people from despair so no symbiote could ever be born again, Tsuruko decided to fight for the people; protecting them from all harm.
Synopsis
Equipment
"Ah, ya see, I created Dragredder from scratch. A hero always has a cool weapon—and what better than a mix and match weapon? Swords are everywhere; so are guns. So why not have a fusion of both? I tweaked it excessively so that I can use it better too; and while it's hard to get a hang of, once I managed to master it, there's no weapon better."
— Tsuruko Sejren to Hikari Zanna, on Dragredder; Innocent Origins
Ultimate Battle Blade, Dragredder.
Dragredder (ドラグレッダー, Doragureddā): Dragredder is a powerful gunblade (ガンブレード, Ganburēdo); a type of weapon only recently developed in the past decade; Tsuruko herself built Dragredder from scratch, tweaking it excessively so that it was so highly customized that only Tsuruko herself can wield it effectively. Like the other weapons in the series, Dragredder has a designation; that of the High Velocity Sword Gun (高速剣銃, Kōsokukenjū). Essentially, the gunblade is exactly what it says on the tin—it has the ability to transform between gun-mode and blade-mode. The weapon is an ingenious integration of sword and firearm into a single instrument for killing purposes. The weapon is equally capable of dispatching enemies at close-quarters and at range. Dragredder is capable of both melee and long-range properties. Dragredder itself is uniquely shaped; loosely based upon a falchion in template, Dragredder possesses an ornately etched base; it possesses a thin, somewhat curved, blade, with a thick line, colored a darker hue, running up the center. Placed in the hilt lies a blue gem, surrounded by the brown-colored handle that gains a mechanical appearance overall, with outward sticking cylindrical protrusions, the tips of which are colored a brick red. In order to transform between the modes, the blade folds inward from the top. So, when it's release, it unfolds from the top outward, as opposed to from the bottom outward; the method is similar to that of a swiss army knife—in order to transform it safely, Tsuruko tilts it to the side; otherwise, she would cut herself if it folded in the bottom, so it folds from the top, making deployment a little safer. However, despite the dangers, the transformation from sword to gun mode is extremely fluid and smooth; not to mention quick. When Dragredder is folded into gun mode, the blade is retracted and double folded; revealing the hilt of the weapon to be a powerful two-barrel blaster as the grip is adjusted slightly downward, providing a perfectly serviceable submachinegun. Dragredder is made of a special metal that is almost unbreakable, making it stand out clearly from any other gunblade. The whole construction and the design of the blade is unique, and Dragredder does not need a different setting, since that would bring it off balance. Tsuruko uses both the weapon's sword and gun forms, quickly switching between the two while attacking to combine close and long-range tactics, such as firing a barrage of gunfire then diving in for a sword slash. When held in front of her, Dragredder is broad enough to act as a shield from arrows and bolts, even diverting lightning into the ground by using it as a lightning rod. Tsuruko also uses it to cushion her impact by laying the sword level with her body and letting it absorb the impact first. Excellen was given Dragredder by Tsuruko in the climax of the Esper Excellen Part II arc to replace her broken Caeservern, as Tsuruko began to focus more on her incredible hand-to-hand combat skills. It is a blade that exists in the astral and physical realms simultaneously; allowing Tsuruko to harm all sorts of beings that could not be struck otherwise, such as Primordial Demons and Dragons; it is armed with silver bullets, which is adversive to a demon. Humourously, Dragredder is given the nickname BirdySwordGun (バーディソードガン, Bādisōdogan) by Gary Straights. By inserting a Super Soul Ring into the upgraded Dragredder's Energy Drive Bay (エナジー・ドライブ・ベイ, Enajī Doraibu Beī) and locking it in place, the user can perform a Ring Charge (リング・チャージ, Ringu Chāji) finishing technique, which is announced by Dragredder counting "1, 10, 100" (一、十、百, Ichi, Jū, Hyaku). Dragredder can count higher to "1000" (千, Sen) and "10000" (万, Man) when Tsuruko pulls the lever on the Phoenix Driver. When Tsuruko obtains the Shin Gaiki Soul Armour, the Ring Charge can reach up to "100,000,000" (億, Oku), "1,000,000,000,000" (兆, Chō), and "Muryodaisu" (無量大数, Immeasurable Large Number, which is the number Infinity in modern day mathematics); reaching the limits of its power.
Kinetic Tether: The kinetic tether is an illegal attachment to any type of customized sword. Tsuruko uses it to move a specific object from a distance, move specific bridges and load various spring-like pads; additionally, it allows her to move around. It works by splitting the sword into halves and using a blue kinetic energy tether to connect the two halves. When it is being used, the tether extends sending the tip of Dragredder flying through the air. If the tip latches onto certain objects, Tsuruko is projected towards that object, rather than the tether returning to its original position. This attachment is used commonly to grapple onto far away objects so that Tsuruko can reach previously inaccessible areas. In addition it allows Tsuruko to grab far away objects and attack enemies. In most cases, attacking a foe with the Kinetic Tether will only stun them, much to Tsuruko's dismay. The Kinetic Tether allows her to grapple and pull herself towards one target, then grapple another target without the need to drop down, making it perfect for moving around hazardous areas.
Phoenix Driver (フェニックス・ドライバー, Fenikkusu Doraibā): The Phoenix Driver is a mysterious Driver Belt that was given to Tsuruko by the equally mystifying Phoenix Knight- in reality, the Phoenix Driver was the first Driver Belt to be developed; the rest, including Phenex's belt, were reverse-engineered from it. The Phoenix Driver is a tricked-out crimson belt which has a phoenix-shaped belt buckle—the phoenix symbol has a flashing red Drive Gem in the middle, which Tsuruko uses to transform into Gaiki. On the side, there is a lever which Tsuruko can rev to summon her Arms Weapon. It should be noted that the Phoenix Driver, along with the eight Prototype Drive Belts, are the only Driver Belt that doesn't require magical energy to use, as they were created when magic did not exist in their homeworld. When Tsuruko revs the Phoenix Driver, the Drive Gem will authorize the Gaiki transformation, emitting a glyph of pure energy which shrouds Tsuruko, causing her to don the Soul Armour. If the Phoenix Driver is attempted to be used by somebody unqualified, (or isn't related to Dzerve or isn't Tsuruko), the Phoenix Driver will announce "Error" (エラー, Erā), meaning it will not be granted. In order to utilize her strongest attacks, Tsuruko pushes the lever on the side of the belt down—this causes energy to flow into her body which the Phoenix Driver has gathered from the environment. Once the energy has been condensed, Tsuruko must quickly expel it in the form of her finishing attack known as a Limit Break (必殺技 (リミット・ブレイク), Rimitto Bureiku lit. Finishing Move); otherwise, it will overload her body. While executing a Double Limit Break is possible, it is risky as it would completely drain the Drive Gem's power for a while, rendering the transformation unusable until it is completely recharged. When not transformed, the Phoenix Driver appears as an ordinary belt with a hand-shaped buckle, allowing Tsuruko to form a masquerade that she and Gaiki are not one and the same if it is required. As a side note, the Phoenix Driver (and Gaiki by extension) seems to have a degree of sentience, as shown in Daybreak: Infinity Future, even when "Dzerve" took the belt and utilized it (as the belt recognized its creator as one of its two "qualified users"), the moment that Tsuruko grabbed it while it was on Dzerve's waist and shouted the transformation call, it broke off from Dzerve's body by giving her a powerful electric shock, cancelling her transformation as Gaiki, and allowed Tsuruko to transform once more.
This hand of mine glows with an awesome power! It's burning grip tells me to defeat you! Take this! My love, my- wait, wrong series.
Dimensional Coupler System (時空連結器・システム, Jikū Renketsuki Shisutemu): The Dimensional Coupler System is the most powerful function of a Deus Machina in battle terms. It takes the form of ports installed upon the palms of their hands- these ports are linked to the Daybreak Drive. In order to activate their power, the Deus Machina uses the Daybreak Drive to induce particle decay; causing the elementary particles in the immediate vicinity to transform into others spontaneously before focusing the particles into their palms, unleashing a high-density particle blast of concussive energy at anywhere that they aim at; these beams possess intense heat, enough to vaporize almost any type of metal. The trajectory of the blasts are directed by magnets and focused by electrostatic lenses, although they may also be self-focusing. The blasts released by the Dimensional Coupler System burn the surrounding area it comes into contact with, and even leave those who stare at it temporarily blind; it has a high rate of fire, enabling a Deus Machina to overwhelm their foes with a near continuous stream of blasts. In its weakest form it is capable of puncturing steel and destroying boulders. The charged version can blow a five foot diameter hole in a wall of solid diamond. Moreover, it is stated that a single shot from the Dimensional Coupler System fully charged possesses the energy far beyond the strongest magical spells. The Dimensional Coupler System can also be used to stabilize flight. Tsuruko has also been shown to be able to reduce the heat released by the Dimensional Coupler System to a warm breeze, which she uses to dry her clothes. Tsuruko can enhance the Dimensional Coupler System by forming an azure arm-cannon that reaches up to Tsuruko's elbow; with several silver flame-esque decals, and the barrel of the cannon possesses a quartet of wings pointing in all four directions; otherwise, it has a single cannon protruding outwards, drastically enhancing the scope and size of her blasts.
Dimensional Distortion Palm (時空歪掌, Jikūwaishō): A by-product of the Dimensional Coupler System- the Dimensional Distortion Palm is the close-range translation of the Dimensional Coupler System's beam to unarmed combat. Tsuruko is capable of focusing the high-density elementary particles generated in her palms into her fists, causing her hands to take on a flaming visage. This not only drastically enhances the power of her unarmed blows, the high-density energies generated essentially allow Tsuruko to smash her way through any obstruction, cutting through defenses of any kind as if it were a hot knife slicing through butter. The Dimensional Distortional Palm creates point singularities when Tsuruko's fists hit any given surface. This instantly leads to highly-destructive explosions and, usually, lots and lots of gore.
Telescoping System (伸縮自在・システム, Shinshikujizai Shisutemu): The Telescoping System is a special function of Tsuruko's body—due to the creator building so much weaponry into her body, the weaponry is stored within the a transdimensional space connected the Daybreak Drive- this can be summoned with a mere thought. When the weaponry shows itself, Tsuruko's limbs extend, armour appears, weaponry will sprout from nowhere, hatches will open up in various parts of her body to reveal even more weapons, and Tsuruko will become ten metric tonnes heavier than before. While this system is mainly used for one-off gags, such as Tsuruko summoning numerous weapons from famous mecha series, it does have a far more important function- allowing the phenomenally powerful Spacetime Convergence Cannon to manifest. In particular, Tsuruko's transdimensional space is a seemingly bottomless pit of storage capacity.
Tsuruko Sejren, wielding the Magitek Weapon, Longinus Blade.
Prototype-00 Revised: Longinus Blade (試作零号機・改・鏖殺公 (ロンギヌス・ブレード), Shikasu Zerogōki Kai Ronginusu Burēdo lit. Throne of Annihilation): The Prototype-00 Revised: Longinus Blade is a Magitek Weapon created specifically for use in combat; forged from a fusion of fighting spirit and cold, hard Orichalcum; though the Longinus Blade, in Tsuruko's case, runs on fighting spirit. The Longinus Blade utilizes the primeval power of eternano to provide the people with the basics of fire, water, light, and most importantly, protection against enemies. These objects achieve their functions by converting eternano from any source, even that of the user's fighting spirit, into energy by way of a formula. They are marked by crests that indicate their attributes. If a piece of Magitek breaks, it loses its ability to absorb eternano, causing it to malfunction. Magitek is composed of two parts: the body and core. The body is the most distinctive part of a Magitek, responsible for controlling the magic that is generated by the core. The core is a small sphere inside the body, which produce the magic through formulas which absorb eternano. Unlike the body, which is easily produced through artificial means, the core is difficult to make without proper materials, leading many people to steal them. While its origins are a mystery, its first appearance was when Tsuruko remarked that her power always evolving and is faster than light during the battle with Alexis, after obtaining Gaiki Shin, and called upon the Longinus Blade. Normally, the Longinus Blade takes on the appearance of a gilded throne which doubles as the scabbard of Dragredder; the throne itself seems to be a sort of support machine, based on how she uses it. It can be changed into a transport vessel by laying it horizontally, or to unlock the final form of her weapon, by cutting the throne into exact halves. The throne itself seems to be a sort of support machine, based on how Tsuruko uses it. It can be changed into a transport vessel by laying it horizontally, or to unlock the final form of her weapon, Halvanhelev, by cutting the throne into exact halves. Tsuruko can set the Longinus Blade down at any moment; after which, it produces a pulling field which will pull her opponent towards it; or alternatively, she can switch the throne to a repelling field which pushes her opponent away; if the opponent is close, it will deal small damage. Once the opponent is within the range of the Longinus Blade; once drawn in by the polarity, it will unveil its true
Tsuruko using the Longinus Blade in Deus Machina Mode.
power; which is to open up into the form of various contraptions which were created for the sole purpose of obliterating her opponent while keeping them on-edge thanks to its numerous functions. The thing to note about the Longinus Blade is that it can perform almost infinite functions; showing various elemental attacks, gravity manipulation, as well as teleportation in its skill-set. For Tsuruko, the Longinus Blade can also combine with some of her Arms Weapons to become an alternate mode for more powerful attacks; like Tsuruko's Dragredder to become the Dragredder Naginata Mode (ドラグレッダー・ナギナタ・モード, Doragureddā Naginata Mōdo); which is used more like a double weapon to allow Tsuruko to attack from all sides.
Armament No.04β – "Hyper-Torrid Flame Bell Vogue Ver. 2.73" (武装No04β「超炎熱フレイムベルボーグVer2.73」, Busō No04β "Chō En'netsu Fureimu Beru Bōgu Ver2.73"): Armament No.04β – "Hyper-Torrid Flame Bell Vogue Ver. 2.73" is the first special ability that the Longinus Blade displays; when activating Hyper-Torrid Flame Bell Vogue, the Longinus Blade consumes a substantial amount of eternano, absorbing it before condensing it at the tip of the throne. Once this has done, the eternano gathered is released in the form of a powerful sphere of flame which is launched upwards; slowly descending. This attack releases highly condensed blasts of flame that can burn the surrounding area it comes into contact with, and even leave those who stare at it temporarily blind; it has a high rate of fire, enabling Tsuruko to overwhelm her foes with a near continuous stream of blasts. It will "fizzle" out after a certain range, but if charged to the maximum, it can hit twice, and will continue to fly without fading. The flame released is multi-hitting, the maximum usually being 5 hits, and it has a property that lets it break through any projectile, which usually catches foes by surprise, as well as blow reinforced, solid titanium walls without effort, making it one of the most powerful functions of the Longinus Blade.
Armament No.05 – "Electric Shock Banishing Ray Ver. 3.10" (武装No05「電撃バニシングレイVer3.10」, Busō No05 "Dengeki Banishingu Rei Ver.3.10"): Armament No.05 – "Electric Shock Banishing Ray Ver. 3.10" is the second special ability that the Longinus Blade displays; when activating Electric Shock Banishing Ray, the Longinus Blade consumes a substantial amount of eternano, absorbing it before condensing it at the tip of the throne. Once this has done, the eternano gathered is released in the form of an extremely large and destructive sparking blast, which produces an immense amount of light and is capable of travelling for great distances, wreaking havoc wherever it passes; a side-effect of being hit by this attack is, if the target survives, the lightning paralyzes them, preventing them from escaping the next attack. Banishing Ray is multi-hitting, the maximum usually being 5 hits, and it has a property that lets it break through any projectile, which usually catches foes by surprise, as well as blow reinforced, solid titanium walls without effort, making it one of its most powerful techniques. It seems that the longer the intervals in not casting the attack, the stronger that Banishing Ray becomes—for instance, while utilizing it in quick succession is good to rush the opponent with; waiting around five minutes before casting it causes Banishing Ray to become a spell worthy of a "finishing move". When used at its full potential, it carries a dangerous ability. While it continues to destroy everything around the attack, the designated opponent is surrounded by the energy of Banishing Ray when hit.
Armament No.02 – "Assaulting Broken Bunker Ver. 2.21" (武装No02「突撃ブロークンバンカーVer2.21」, Busō No02 "Totsugeki Burōkun Bankā Ver2.21"): Armament No.02 – "Assaulting Broken Bunker Ver. 2.21" is the third special ability that the Longinus Blade displays; when activating Assaulting Broken Bunker, the Longinus Blade consumes a substantial amount of eternano, absorbing it before condensing it at the tip of the throne. Once this has done, the eternano gathered is released in the form of a vicious volley of missiles which launch towards the opponent, locking on to their heat signature on the way. Each missile contains the properties of targeting and propulsion, always condensing the eternano particles that are inside of it, before spreading them out to the tip, coating the outer surface of the missile, enhancing its penetrative qualities; the Longinus Blade unleashes a vicious onslaught of missiles at Tsuruko's opponent; upon contact with the foe, each of the missiles release all of the eternano that compose it—the foe's own supernatural aura serves to contain and amplify the destructive power of each missile; before warping the surface and exploding, dealing tremendous damage.
Armament No.99 – Halvanhelev, in action.
Armament No.99 – Halvanhelev (武装No99神滅の剣（ハルヴァンヘレヴ）, Busō No99 Haruvuanherevu lit. The Sword that Destroys God): Halvanhelev, the Sword that Destroys God, also known as Blazing Sword Mode (ブレージング・ソード・モード, Burējingu Sōdo Mōdo) is the ultimate form of the Longinus Blade; when accessing its power, Tsuruko cuts the throne of the Longinus Blade into exact halves, before they attach to Dragredder, forming an enormous blade which is twenty meters long in length; being over ten times Tsuruko's own height. This gives Dragredder elemental properties, in addition to unrestrained cutting power. When Tsuruko's blade is infused with her fighting spirit, it replaces the hard, metal blade of the sword with a blade of light, similar to a laser. When Halvanhelev is in effect, it turns Tsuruko's attack into a power on the physical and supernatural side. This makes it incredibly useful for fighting demons, who do not have physical bodies and therefore can only be hurt with supernatural power. It can also be used against foes whose supernatural bodies are
Tsuruko using Armament No.99 – Halvanhelev, in her Deus Machina Mode.
sealed off or missing, and thus are immune to most supernatural powers. The Halvanhelev is powerful enough to destroy lesser demons and weak Espers in a single blow if Tsuruko can manage to hit them. Even middle-ranking demons can be seriously wounded or killed by this attack. High-ranking demons such as the Primordial Demons, however, often display near immunity to the weapon's power, requiring more powerful techniques to kill. The size and length of the blade appears to correspond with the amount of Tsuruko's raw fighting spirit that she poured into it. Due to the blade now being composed of fighting spirit, Halvanhelev can also be used to channel and amplify spells, increasing their power as they are released from the blade. The sword can also absorb spells to become stronger for short periods of time.
Powers and Abilities
Ways of Combat
Grandmaster Hand-to-Hand Combatant
Grandmaster Hand-to-Hand Combat: Tsuruko's most notable trait is her incredible aptitude for hand-to-hand combat. Despite not having received any known training in martial arts until the time of Daybreak, the many years of battles Tsuruko has been through has made her a powerful and skilled fighter, and a profound user of hand-to-hand combat, being able to go up against and beat others with far more experience; a good example of this is in Daybreak S2, Elucifer Mercury stated that he was impressed with her ability to actually fight on a level close to him. It has also been noted by people that Tsuruko's combat skills are always improving; this is best exemplified in both of her battles with the Black Dragon Nidhoggr, where in Daybreak S2, she needed Excellen's help and her Soul Armour's Super Mode in order to defeat him after a tough battle, contrast to her reappearance in Dawn's final arc, where she took down the Black Dragon in three strikes without any assistance and didn't even use Gaiki's normal form to bolster her power. Indeed, due to constantly engaging in battle with various foes, over time, Tsuruko became an excellent hand-to-hand fighter utilizing a fighting style that directly complements her fighting spirit and her Zero Effect; the versatility of which allows her to adapt to any foe and beat them. Tsuruko herself has never formally trained with any other martial artist or has even picked up a book on martial arts before- as noted below, her fighting style is completely self-taught. While she first picked up close-combat due to Ashley Briett, the Dragon of Dragons, as Ashley was the one who raised her after her father's death, Tsuruko has always felt a personal attachment to using unarmed blows in the heat of battle, seeing it as more natural than other methods of fighting. Tsuruko's fighting style is referred to as Anything Goes Tsuru-Style (無差別格闘鶴流, Musabetsu Kakutō Tsuru-ryū), a "style" that she made up upon the fly; indeed, her hand-to-hand combat style is completely self-taught, and borrows moves from several others she is in association with; it is much less a "style" and more a method of combat that has been developing ever since Tsuruko took interest in close-range battle. Additionally, Tsuruko has been trained in boxing by her cousin Marisa Sejren, Excellen Kilekion in the Esper martial art Seiken Accel Blow, her grandfather in the Dimension King Style and even mimicked some advanced Rune Knight martial arts techniques from Deen Lhant; indeed, Tsuruko is renowned throughout the world as one of the greatest martial artists to ever live.
Due to her past as a delinquent, Tsuruko is naturally attuned to solving things with her fists and feet- indeed, Tsuruko herself mentions on several occasions that the only thing she's really good at is street-fighting, and it would be useless for her to learn any other method of combat, as she displays absolutely zero instance in doing so; a good actual example of this is during the brief time she attempted to use the gunblade Dragredder mainly instead of relying on her instincts as she wished to emulate her hero, Phoenix Knight, who possessed the gunblade Dragsilver and was a master of swordfighting- she was noted to be significantly ineffective in combat, with many battles with more powerful foes in the earlier stages of Daybreak ending up in a tie, as seen with Sion Kenzaki, and in worse cases, an outright one-sided loss, as her first bout with Kirika Hotsuin, where she had almost died if it wasn't for Gary Straights' intervention. After this major setback, Tsuruko reevaluated how she would go about confrontations, simply stopping trying to emulate somebody who isn't her, and decided to stick to her guns, what she was best at- from here, the awakening of the Gaiki Soul Armour and Tsuruko's own martial arts skills allowed her to easily beat Kirika; though it should be taken into consideration that Tsuruko's transformation took her foe off-guard and Kirika's Soul Armour hadn't fully awakened yet- subsequent confrontations have them on a more even playing field. While originally, Tsuruko relied solely on her amazing speed and power to achieve victory, striking with no skill behind her blows in a wild manner, her 'power-style' approach was not much of a problem at first as nobody was aware of her true origins for a good part of Daybreak S1- however, during Daybreak S2, with the introduction of the main antagonist, Elucifer Mercury, an esteemed martial artist who can easily outperform her in every way, she was required to reevaluate her fighting style once more, leading to her Anything Goes Tsuru-Style adapting numerous traits and other martial arts to allow her to develop into the powerful and skilled combatant she is in the remainder of S2 and Dawn.
As a close-range combatant, Tsuruko has a unique combination of traits in regards to her physical attributes, making her overwhelmingly physically powerful- something that is only enhanced by her martial arts prowess. Being faster than the speed of sound, she zips around in the atmosphere as if she were as light as a feather, giving off the deceptive appearance that she is capable of full flight; but without her boosters, she falls like a brick descending from a high altitude due to her weight of twenty-four tonnes, but ascending is a different story, as she often harnesses the boosters installed within her feet to leap high into the air- this, combined with her swift falling speed, effectively grants her the ability to forcefully dive directly into the earth below, rending the ground asunder upon impact and releasing a flurry of shockwaves upon touchdown. This immense speed carries over to ground-combat, as Tsuruko is just as fast while grounded, instantly accelerating to and running at speeds far greater than Mach speed, breaking the sound barrier; something only enhanced by her in-built boosters. Thanks to her durable frame, she's also capable of shrugging off countless blows; her style centers on getting in close range as soon as possible to deal the majority of damage, thanks to her astounding mobility. Because of her smarts -regarding fighting- Tsuruko shows immense power in the ways of street fighting to those who have the unfortunate fate of fighting her; and she is a highly powerful and fierce fighter; indeed, she is without equal in the forte of hand-to-hand combat. Tsuruko has achieved a peak physical conditioning and prowess, granting her immense reserves of stamina, something which is only bolstered by the fact that her soul inhabits the frame of a war machine designed to destroy dimensions.
Taking upon a boxing-style approach to combat, which was only enhanced when her cousin Marisa Sejren taught her the real deal during her stay in Luin when she and Excellen took Hikari to the city to purify her from demonic influence gained during her time as a Magic Council captive. While (originally) Tsuruko lacked finesse in her fighting style as detailed below, while Marisa told Tsuruko that there were many styles of boxing, Tsuruko chose to take the "slugger" and "boxer-puncher" styles- the former of which stands for everything that's brutal in the sport, focusing on a strength that enables her to knock out almost any opponent in a single blow and the latter style grants her a swift hand-speed, a nasty jab, combination and counter-punching skills, good accuracy and defense, all while merging her natural physical might and swiftness into her fighting style, evolving the Anything Goes Tsuru-Style to be even more faster and unpredictable. She attempts to constantly stay in close proximity to an opponent, throwing an intense flurry of punches towards her foe and combinations of hooks and uppercuts. The reason why this style is so effective is because Tsuruko is extremely durable; and swarming usually involves being hit with many over and over before Tsuruko can maneuver inside where they are more effective. When using boxing, Tsuruko fights best at close range because more often than not, she's generally shorter and has less reach than her opponents and thus are more effective at a short distance where the longer arms of her opponents make punching awkward. Tsuruko often uses her short stature to her advantage, employing a bob-and-weave defense by bending at the waist to slip underneath or to the sides of incoming punches. Unlike blocking, causing an opponent to miss a punch disrupts their balance, permits forward movement past the opponent's extended arm and keeps the hands free to counter. A distinct advantage that Tsuruko has is when throwing uppercuts where she can channel her entire bodyweight behind the punch; her uppercuts hit like a truck; but essentially, the key to Tsuruko's style is aggression, endurance, and bobbing-and-weaving.
Tsuruko is referred to as a southpaw, a fighter, specifically, a boxer, who fights with a left-handed fighting stance as a contrast to every other boxer who fights with their right-hand predominantly; she will often jab and lead from her right side, saving her left-hand for stronger blows as she's left-handed herself. With incredibly her agile and quick footwork that is only enhanced by her naturally immense speed and boosters in her feet and shoulders, Tsuruko's movements in battle are sublimely swift, constantly keeping up a fast pace, and in close-range, she prefers to not make incredible dashing movements like gigantic leaps and such, but she takes up a boxing-like approach to her steps in battle, constantly keeping balance, closing and furthering the distance, controlling spatial positioning, and creating additional momentum for each and every one of her blows. The combination of which makes her movements quite unpredictable for anyone to square off against; as her movements enable her to close the distance between her and her opponent in the blink of an eye while shrugging everything and anything thrown her way if it is supernatural in nature, instantly entering the blind-spot of her enemy where they are most vulnerable to her close-range blows, more often than not resulting in a criminally-small match where Tsuruko's opponent is overwhelmed by a vicious flurry of blows that rain down like a hail of bullets, overwhelming and utterly defeating them no matter what. Tsuruko also has infused the Arcanite Fist (奥義秘伝の正拳流, Ākanaito Fisuto lit. Esoterica of the Proper Fist Style) style of Kenpo that all Espers use when battling, which is used through better handling of their Esper powers; Excellen Kilekion included into her fighting style.
While technically unnamed and it integrates many elements of fighting styles around the world into its existence and is self-taught, and as noted above, Tsuruko's fighting style is mainly derived from boxing and kickboxing, with breakdancing and some elements of Capoeira added to it; Tsuruko's incredible skill in unarmed combat is drastically enhanced by her inherent immense strength and speed, giving her the ability to unleash devastating blows with ease. Tending to mix it up in the heat of battle, Tsuruko does not favour either punches or kicks; instead, she uses a liberal application of both, more often than not keeping the opponent guessing each and every time. Even without her main "fighting style", she is a master of a wide variety of martial arts, knowing Krav Maga, Savate, Aikido, Taekwondo, Jeet Kune Do, grappling, Wing Chun, Bāguàzhǎng and Muay Thai, in addition to a medley of others that Tsuruko cannot name due to her bad memory span — however, Tsuruko simply learnt these alternative fighting styles to bolster her the Anything Goes Tsuru-Style, integrating parts of the styles into her fighting style; resulting in the Anything Goes Tsuru-Style being an idiosyncratic admixture of all of the styles that doesn't lose any of its practicality due to her natural genius and special attributes, incorporating these exotic fighting styles into her combat repertoire to model certain blows in her arsenal after the best techniques of their kind, allowing her to mix it up quite a bit, simply adapting the strongest strikes of each individual martial arts style right down to the movements without changing her own freeflowing style to form an overwhelming yet seamless combat style without any equal that can be considered good at everything, from offense, defense, and speed, constantly keeping her opponents on her toes.
Many of her techniques derive from another form of martial arts- for example, the Chaser Smash Limit Break, while on the surface, simply appears as a flurry of punches more akin to a finishing move shown by heroes of shōnen manga, it in reality takes inspiration from the Dempsey Roll, a famous boxing technique developed and used by real-life boxer William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey; and her Victorize Kneespike, despite how extrvagant it appears, is actually a legitimate Muay Thai move; further displaying how well Tsuruko is capable of weaving moves and skills of all kinds into her Anything Goes Tsuru-Style seamlessly. Many of these hand-to-hand combat styles that Tsuruko is knowledgeable in are known to be rather commonplace, though many supernaturally-assisted fighters rarely use an actual close-combat fighting style, this grants Tsuruko an edge over her more "normal" opponents such as Leanne Rockwell and Suzuka Kobayashi, whom, as standard magicians, aren't used to a close-combat fighter shrugging off all of their spells before closing in and laying down the hurt in the blink of an eye. It should be taken into consideration that with the exception of those listed below, numerous martial arts skills that Tsuruko displays in the heat of combat are more often than not unnamed, as Tsuruko believes that she should only announce her attack calls when unleashing a deciding blow or using a strike close to her heart, such as her Corkscrew Bullet technique. Overall, what appears to be a combat method more befitting that of a bar brawler rather than anyone with even a single iota of skill is actually quite an ingenious merging of several fighting styles into one, with Tsuruko appropriating attributes of multiple combat methods, switching between all of them on the fly, though her combat style always retains a certain animalistic feel to it.
This savage-appearing striking method is the result of mimicking her adoptive mother, Ashley Briett, who is the Dragon of Dragons- while Tsuruko is obviously not a dragon, she cannot harness Ashley's Dragon Style, but instead, her Anything Goes Tsuru-Style integrates various properties of the draconic martial art, with Tsuruko bringing out her mechanical attributes in combat, such as shooting her forearm forward with the Rocket Punch Limit Break or extending it outwards at high speeds with her forearm attached to a chain before swinging it around to serve as an impromptu ball-and-chain. In combat, Tsuruko often attacks from all directions as well as in every way possible, in order to overwhelm the opponent with relative ease, utilizing blows such as karate chops, punches of all kinds and roundhouse kicks, to which many of her attacks have a significant amount of force behind them, using strong and swift punches and kicks, such as powerpacked jabs or piercing uppercuts, and slashing kicks and drilling knee strikes, to deal damaging blows to her opponents. With the speeds Tsuruko can move at, which is also further augmented by the jets installed in her back and feet, making use of these immeasurable velocities in order to deliver fast strikes to her opponents, which either allows her to deliver several strikes in a split second, or to increase the force behind her strikes in order to make her blows even more powerful, disabling the opponent through the force of her blows alone without revealing any hints as to how she advanced, while leaving them at the mercy at her incoming attacks, using her extremely powerful limbs to their fullest extent to defeat her opponent effortlessly through her sheer brute force and speed, more often than not taking the unsuspecting target by surprise through her overwhelming physical specifications, leaving them unable to properly register when they've been defeated.
While fighting, due to being a genius in close combat (and nothing else), Tsuruko can also think on the spot and come up with creative counterattacks and highly situational techniques against her enemies while predominantly relying on her natural instincts in order to decide what technique is suitable to each and every situation, sometimes giving off the air of unprofessionalism as she occasionally causes her opponents as well as her allies to wonder whether or not Tsuruko is taking things one-hundred-percent-seriously, though Tsuruko herself constantly stresses that she's always serious in a fight; while Tsuruko is commonly mis-characterized as rather crude in her strikes, she is actually rather thoughtful and even somewhat scientific, showing rare amounts of intelligence when in battle. Thanks to a combination of her natural instinct and incredible speed and reflexes, she can effortlessly evade or counter almost any sort of attack thrown her way, no matter if it is close-range, a projectile or supernatural in origin. Whatever grace that Tsuruko Sejren is deprived of in her actual fighting style, she constantly displays her showy spirit and flashy nature through stylish character tics; when stationary, Tsuruko often flicks one of her wrists whenever she prepares to launch a powerful attack, taunt her opponent, or signify that she was going to go all-out. Before using a Limit Break, she will, without fail, kneel forward with one hand on her leg. Not only this, Tsuruko is prone to eccentrics like posing, pre-battle speeches and calling her attack names as loud as she can. Despite being very theatrical with a love of entertaining people, traits she inherited from her father, with a passionate adoration of flashy moves, Tsuruko's actual fighting style and the martial arts moves she uses -enhanced or otherwise- are known to be fairly straightforward and easy-to-use, all of them being quite practical and cost-efficient. Indeed, it can be said that while she only has a few actual techniques, thanks to her absolute mastery over each and every one of them, they are reliable tool-set that barely changes bit by bit each time. Ironically, it's in Tsuruko's nature to stick to the fundamentals, playing to her more consistent techniques she's refined throughout the years, and often seeks to master all her moves while tweaking it by small bits.
This categorizes her in the "boring, but practical" group of things, but her knowledge of all of her basic techniques results her in exuding supreme confidence in any fight; unorthodox projectile aside, Tsuruko's repertoire of attacks have her in arm's reach of the opponent at all times, and once she catches an opponent in her barrage of attacks, she keeps them trapped by keeping up her strikes, never allowing her opponents a chance to counterattack. However, let it be known that despite a majority of her attacks being quite simple, given her nature as an entertainer who loves making people smile and laugh, Tsuruko can harness them in any way that she deems it suitable- more often than not, whenever Tsuruko announces that she is about to unleash a "new attack", it's simply a new application of a preexisting move she possesses, adapted to suit the situation or to expand what it is capable of; this means that nearly all of her techniques are rather deceiving; since she lacks the range of a lot of characters, Tsuruko's techniques are commonly used in mind games, to surprise and confuse foes and to punish a careless approach. Vanishing Drive - Triplicate has a large number of ways to follow up on its own as the afterimages she generates with her signature Vanishing Drive movement technique commonly has three phantoms of her as she rushes towards her opponent, but they can be canceled to a dead halt, appear behind the opponent or installed with physical mass in order to attack the opponent, the rarely-used Divide Zero projectile is laid out as a mine before being (optionally) shot forward, and many of her speed-enhanced strikes come out of nowhere. This is quite fitting for her personality, Tsuruko appears to be as dumb as a stump, but can show surprising bouts of insight even when not fighting making it harder to tell if and when her act of playing the fool is just an act, to the point where functional omniscience or blind luck are outright required to reliably counter her.
When utilizing her Zero Effect as a method to bolster the force of her attacks, Tsuruko has shown the ability to use her mysterious power in order to erase any opponent's methods of improving their physical parameters and use their power against them in a sense; since the Zero Effect erases the supernatural, just by coming into contact with any supernatural force, Tsuruko can erase them with merely her bare hands without any enhancements, deflecting onslaughts of magical blasts with ease, and deflecting spells with the exact same technique, as if she were fighting and disarming an opponent who was well-equipped. Also, Tsuruko can use Zero Effect to increase the damage she deals to her opponent when striking them, often resulting in significant forces being released and blowing the opponent a certain distance away, and to overwhelm her opponents, Tsuruko will use powerful attacks involving the Zero Effect; and thanks to it, the more damage she takes, the stronger she becomes. Integrating the Zero Effect into her fighting style, Tsuruko often combines this amazing power with her natural fighting skill in ingenious and creative ways, as she is able to use the malleability of the zero particles generated upon her extremities in order to gain tremendous velocity, and hit her enemies with devastating impacts and blows even faster than she would normally- because of the Zero Effect, each and every one of her blows have a transcendent priority, piercing through all defenses and obstructions in the blink of an eye- all of her strikes when imbued with the Zero Effect cannot collide with, clash with, cancel out, or be cancelled out by other attacks no matter their originating source, blasting straight through anything that they come into contact with like anything in Tsuruko's path was naught but wet tissue paper.
Her immense power also effectively grants her a certain level of dominance over the terrain, which she merges with her hand-to-hand combat style- by punching the ground with her fist and channeling her fighting spirit into her knuckles, Tsuruko can generate a small fissure of energy that stretches for about a dozen or so meters, which in turn unleashes a powerful force sufficient to easily launch several humans into the air and away from Tsuruko herself. This maneuver is more often than not used to trip opponents up and send them upwards, rendering them susceptible to Tsuruko's next strike. As a result of her unyielding will and immense amounts of Ardor gain, not to mention her Daybreak Drive, which allows her to channel her fighting spirit into power and turn her wild emotions into energy, Tsuruko can theoretically fight for a near infinite duration of time and her strength is said to be limitless. Thanks to her Daybreak Drive, she can use the Impact Code in order to charge the strength of each and every one of her blows, bolstering their power significantly. Tsuruko can also harness the Multi Lock-On System in order to transfix a target reticule on the opponent in her eyes, allowing her to gain all sorts of information about the enemy to assist her in dealing with them easier- this also allows her unorthodox projectile, Divide Zero, to home in on the enemy if she uses the Multi Lock-On System and then fires the attack towards the opponent. All in all, with a simple and straightforward fighting style that matches her personality perfectly, Tsuruko's close-range capabilities turn her into a force of nature itself turning even the surroundings into a raging maelstrom of death and oblivion.
Tsuru-Style Attacks
Corkscrew Bullet (流星螺旋聖拳突き, Kōkusukuryū Baretto lit. Meteoric Spiralling Holy Fist Punch): Corkscrew Bullet is the name of Tsuruko Sejren's most basic attack; effectively, it is simply a normal punch, albeit one that is enhanced by her nature as a Deus Machina. Originally, Corkscrew Bullet was left unnamed for a majority of its appearances, which would be in all of Tsuruko's battles as she only feels the need to call out the names of her Limit Breaks; however, during her battle with Charlotte Merquise is the first time the attack is mentioned by name. When performing Corkscrew Bullet, Tsuruko surges her fighting spirit, imbuing one of her arms with her fighting spirit, compressing and condensing it to its utmost limit in order to drastically enhance the power of the next attack- instead of allowing her fighting spirit to overflow and take upon corporeality, radiating a power so brightly that it seems to blind those whom turn their gaze upon Tsuruko, Tsuruko instead keeps it compressed within her fist, resulting in her fighting spirit remaining a barely visible outline of crimson upon her arm. With her Ardor compressed, the gears on Tsuruko's lower arms begin to spin at astounding speeds, counter-rotating as always so that her punch wouldn't be thrown off; the spiralling motion can reach up to 4000 RPM, beyond the speed of sound while simulating the effects of a drill eating away at bedrock. The rotation serves to increase the destructive power of the punch, stirring up the wind with enough force to cause particles to be scattered away from her fist. Once this is done, Tsuruko throws a powerful punch with all of her might, unleashing the concentrated fighting spirit upon her fist towards the foe alongside the punch which possesses immense penetrative power, essentially transferring the fighting spirit using the kinetic energy of the blow to deliver upon the promise of "absolute destruction", releasing Tsuruko's immense amounts of fighting spirit into the opponent's body, where it interferes with their motor functions and temporarily disables them, also unleashing a serial of surreal, delayed shockwaves to smash into the opponent's body simultaneously—the last of which is capable of sending them careening through the air at an astounding velocity; even shattering steel and destroying a small building. The punch itself is said to be akin to being shot in the face by a gigantic cannonball that drills into the opponent; devastating the unlucky recipient with relative ease; it hits at such a velocity that it appears as if Tsuruko's arm has extended outwards to strike the opponent in the blink of an eye. The resulting resonance of the fighting spirit-imbued fist can crush the target and is particularly dangerous to supernatural creatures. It is capable of tearing through all sorts of alloys such as Orichalcum and even through all sorts of supernatural defenses like they were made of wet tissue paper. When Tsuruko activates her Wing Road System, the fins that appear from her shoulder can be used to enhance the power of this blow; they break apart and release surging amounts of fighting spirit while serving their own duty of unleashing large quantities of thrust to propel Tsuruko forward at speeds beyond mortal comprehension, increasing the power of her blows. Aside from the standard usage of the technique, Tsuruko has developed numerous variants of Corkscrew Bullet to suit the situation at hand, ranging from different kinds of strikes such as uppercuts, haymakers, and one-inch punches, or simply enhancing her movement speed and force by using the Wing Road System to execute more complex maneuvers with relative ease- however, one thing that is always consistent with Corkscrew Bullet is that not only is it consistently powerful, Heat End is more often than not an extension of the attack. Interestingly, Tsuruko is capable of turning around to the opposite direction while charging Corkscrew Bullet up by activating the Impact Code; allowing the attack to do slightly more damage, but it has a slower release time due to the extra seconds needed to turn around. However, the charged Corkscrew Bullet has a simple yet glaring weakness—it requires a precious few seconds to charge up and release, during which, Tsuruko's opponent could attack, thus interrupting the strike. Because of this, she normally prefers to use the charged technique when the opponent is restrained or unguarded; otherwise she throws Corkscrew Bullet around as normal, being quite an impressive move due to its incredible speed and power. Visually, Corkscrew Bullet is a reference to the infamous Shining Finger utilized by the Shining Gundam in Mobile Fighter G Gundam, albeit unleashed as a punch rather than a face-palm of doom.
Corkscrew Upperdash (流星螺旋聖拳突き・前方龍拳, Kōkusukuryū Appādashu lit. Meteoric Spiralling Holy Fist Punch – Forward Dragon Fist): Corkscrew Upperdash is the name of a variant of Corkscrew Bullet where Tsuruko, instead of punching forward, launches a forward-dashing uppercut that possesses the same properties of the original. When performing Corkscrew Upperdash, Tsuruko surges her fighting spirit, imbuing one of her arms with her fighting spirit, compressing and condensing it to its utmost limit in order to drastically enhance the power of the next attack- instead of allowing her fighting spirit to overflow and take upon corporeality, radiating a power so brightly that it seems to blind those whom turn their gaze upon Tsuruko, Tsuruko instead keeps it compressed within her fist, resulting in her fighting spirit remaining a barely visible outline of crimson upon her arm. With her Ardor compressed, the gears on Tsuruko's lower arms begin to spin at astounding speeds, counter-rotating as always so that her punch wouldn't be thrown off; the spiralling motion can reach up to 4000 RPM, beyond the speed of sound while simulating the effects of a drill eating away at bedrock. The rotation serves to increase the destructive power of the punch, stirring up the wind with enough force to cause particles to be scattered away from her fist. Once this is done, Tsuruko takes a single step backwards before darting forwards for a short distance in the blink of an eye, unleashing a powerful fiery uppercut upon any opponent that she comes across- the sheer force of the blow can knock opponents into the air, with them ascending at a slight angle. However, if Tsuruko doesn't come into contact with anything during the forward dash, she might fall onto her stomach. The move itself does not have much landing lag, however. As the move doesn't deal any damage until it hits a target, it does very poorly at protecting Tsuruko from opposing attacks but it is good at chasing enemies due to its duration and range. When used in the air, Corkscrew Upperdash changes from an uppercut to an overhand punch that can spike an opponent, sending them crashing down to the ground if Tsuruko hits a mid-air opponent- however, upon contact in midair, she bounces over the spiked opponent and keeps a bit of sideways momentum. Connecting with it in midair also gives Tsuruko an upward boost that can have its momentum controlled much like a normal jump, and can be performed right afterward once more after the recovery.
Corkscrew Riser (流星螺旋聖拳突き・上撃龍拳, Kōkusukuryū Raizā lit. Meteoric Spiralling Holy Fist Punch – Ascending Striking Dragon Fist): Corkscrew Riser is the name of a variant of Corkscrew Bullet where Tsuruko, instead of punching forward, launches a jumping uppercut that possesses the same properties of the original. When performing Corkscrew Riser, Tsuruko surges her fighting spirit, imbuing one of her arms with her fighting spirit, compressing and condensing it to its utmost limit in order to drastically enhance the power of the next attack- instead of allowing her fighting spirit to overflow and take upon corporeality, radiating a power so brightly that it seems to blind those whom turn their gaze upon Tsuruko, Tsuruko instead keeps it compressed within her fist, resulting in her fighting spirit remaining a barely visible outline of crimson upon her arm. With her Ardor compressed, the gears on Tsuruko's lower arms begin to spin at astounding speeds, counter-rotating as always so that her punch wouldn't be thrown off; the spiralling motion can reach up to 4000 RPM, beyond the speed of sound while simulating the effects of a drill eating away at bedrock. The rotation serves to increase the destructive power of the punch, stirring up the wind with enough force to cause particles to be scattered away from her fist. Once this is done, she unleashes a highly powerful jumping uppercut where Tsuruko spins and rockets upwards with some horizontal movement as well, knocking the opponent to the ground with much damage. This initial strike has Tsuruko spinning around as they deliver the uppercut; which works similar to a vacuum; if the foe is caught by the initial blow; then they will be struck the successive eight times while damaging all the foes in the radius of her fist. While being launched upwards, the fighting spirit that coats Tsuruko's fist is shown to emit energy which scatters off of the hand, creating a razor-sharp disk of energy coating her fist that can slice through nearly anything. It is however infamous for its main weaknesses: which are that it is generally slow to create, it lacks accuracy, and it cannot be controlled once the user is in motion. This is a rather powerful attack; though the trade-off for this is that when using it, Tsuruko is completely vulnerable to attack when falling back to the ground and for a split second after landing. If this attack connects with the opponent at the deepest point of impact (i.e. while the user is still standing on the ground), it will inflict substantially more damage. The Corkscrew Riser also covers a lot of horizontal distance, allowing Tsuruko to strike an airborne opponent from several meters away.
Corkscrew One-Punch (流星螺旋聖拳突き・脂肪強, Kōkusukuryū Wan-Panchi lit. Meteoric Spiralling Holy Fist Punch – Internal Energy Release): Corkscrew One-Punch is a variant of the standard Corkscrew Bullet attack, where Tsuruko launches a powerful one-inch punch using her knowledge of Jeet Kune Do instead of the extravagant thrust forward with the arm as per the normal Corkscrew Bullet, generating explosive amounts of power. When performing Corkscrew One-Punch, Tsuruko surges her fighting spirit, imbuing one of her arms with her fighting spirit, compressing and condensing it to its utmost limit in order to drastically enhance the power of the next attack- instead of allowing her fighting spirit to overflow and take upon corporality, radiating a power so brightly that it seems to blind those whom turn their gaze upon Tsuruko, Tsuruko instead keeps it compressed within her fist, resulting in her fighting spirit remaining a barely visible outline of crimson upon her arm. With her Ardor compressed, the gears on Tsuruko's lower arms begin to spin at astounding speeds, counter-rotating as always so that her punch wouldn't be thrown off; the spiralling motion can reach up to 4000 RPM, beyond the speed of sound while simulating the effects of a drill eating away at bedrock. The rotation serves to increase the destructive power of the punch, stirring up the wind with enough force to cause particles to be scattered away from her fist. Once this is done, Tsuruko stands with her fist very close to her target –the distance depends, but it is normally from zero-to-six inches- and with a quick movement of her wrist which is held with the knuckles facing out on a horizontal axis, she moves her wrist upwards, and a strike is produced with her bottom two knuckles, generating explosive amounts of power that contains tremendous amounts of impact force at extremely close distances. The movement of the attack is essentially invisible, and it truly seems like Tsuruko shoots her opponent, except that the resulting impact is not akin to the teensy little peashooter also known as a pistol, but to a small hand-held cannon and powerful enough to propel the unlucky recipient several meters away. The incredible speed both makes the strike far more powerful, and harder to dodge; connecting instantly with the target, more often than not sending an opponent careening across the landscape upon contact while dealing tremendous amounts of damage.
Corkscrew Zapperstrike (流星螺旋聖拳突き・停電打, Kōkusukuryū Zappāsutoraiku lit. Meteoric Spiralling Holy Fist Punch – Power Outage Blow): Corkscrew Zapperstrike is a variant of the regular Corkscrew Bullet which has Tsuruko release a powerful two-fingered blow that unleashes a large amount of electricity, paralyzing and knocking the opponent out in the blink of an eye; it was developed as a way to deal with enemies not worth her time. When performing Corkscrew Zapperstrike, Tsuruko surges her fighting spirit, imbuing one of her arms with her fighting spirit, compressing and condensing it to its utmost limit in order to drastically enhance the power of the next attack- instead of allowing her fighting spirit to overflow and take upon corporeality, radiating a power so brightly that it seems to blind those whom turn their gaze upon Tsuruko, Tsuruko instead keeps it compressed within her fist, resulting in her fighting spirit remaining a barely visible outline of crimson upon her arm; additionally, the speeds of the compression rate cause static to become generated. With her Ardor compressed, the gears on Tsuruko's lower arms begin to spin at astounding speeds, counter-rotating as always so that her punch wouldn't be thrown off; the spiralling motion can reach up to 4000 RPM, beyond the speed of sound while simulating the effects of a drill eating away at bedrock. The rotation serves to increase the destructive power of the punch, stirring up the wind with enough force to cause particles to be scattered away from her fist. Once this is done, Tsuruko throws a powerful strike with all of her might, unleashing a two-fingered strike that she applies pressure with, aiming her fingers at the nerves near the base of her target's neck –at the shoulder, releasing a relatively high voltage of electricity from her fingers, delivering an electric current to disrupt the target's voluntary control of muscles causing phenomena called "neuromuscular incapacitation". The moment that Tsuruko touches the target, the target experiences stimulation of their senses and motor functions, resulting in strong involuntary muscle contractions. The Corkscrew Zapperstrike also has another function—it enables Tsuruko destroy technology by simply touching it with her hands. It can be conducted along and through almost any surface, including skin, clothes, or layers of those. However, it seems that there are varying degrees to this ability as some opponents have been simply dazed where others have been sent into unconsciousness. This power provides a great advantage as Tsuruko can end a confrontation quickly with little collateral damage; unlike her other attacks, which generally destroy everything that she comes into contact with. It should be noted that on humans, it has an almost hundred-percent success rate—though demons, dragons, Espers, and the Magius have a harder time succumbing to the attack. Generally, the victims of this move tend to suffer headaches afterwards. This attack was derived from the Rune Knight "sleeper hold" technique that's used to quell rowdy crowds.
Corkscrew Blazepillar (流星螺旋聖拳突き・波動列帛拳, Kōkusukuryū Bureizupirā lit. Meteoric Spiralling Holy Fist Punch – Burst Wave Fist): Corkscrew Blazepillar is a variant of the bog-standard Corkscrew Bullet technique which involves Tsuruko smashing her fist into the ground instead of throwing a punch, releasing a wave of blazing flames towards the target. When performing Corkscrew Blazepillar, Tsuruko surges her fighting spirit, imbuing one of her arms with her fighting spirit, compressing and condensing it to its utmost limit in order to drastically enhance the power of the next attack- instead of allowing her fighting spirit to overflow and take upon corporeality, radiating a power so brightly that it seems to blind those whom turn their gaze upon Tsuruko, Tsuruko instead keeps it compressed within her fist, resulting in her fighting spirit remaining a barely visible outline of crimson upon her arm; additionally, the speeds of the compression rate cause her fighting spirit to momentarily reach its peak, resulting in immense amounts of Ardor Flame being manifested. With her Ardor compressed, the gears on Tsuruko's lower arms begin to spin at astounding speeds, counter-rotating as always so that her punch wouldn't be thrown off; the spiralling motion can reach up to 4000 RPM, beyond the speed of sound while simulating the effects of a drill eating away at bedrock. The rotation serves to increase the destructive power of the punch, stirring up the wind with enough force to cause particles to be scattered away from her fist. Once this is done, flames engulf Tsuruko's entire forearm as she smashes her burning fist at the ground, causing a minor tremor as the flames are released from her forearms, launching a wave of blazing flames towards the target at astounding speeds; the blazing red fires deal multiple hits before exploding upon hitting an opponent; the first hit doesn't make the opponent flinch, making it possible for them to shield the rest of the attack. In addition to this, Tsuruko can move faster than the attack itself, allowing her to fire multiple cascades of flame that erupt from the earth towards the opponent from different directions. Indeed, Corkscrew Blazepillar is capable of travelling great distances in an instant, making it increasingly difficult to evade, though it is at its most powerful at the start; as the generation of the flames cause a brief shockwave of power. If the enemy attempts to defend against it, Corkscrew Blazepillar is capable of shattering most defenses. The reason that it quickly obliterates any defenses is the amazing speed behind the multiple hits of the charge which quickly wears away at the opponent's defenses. Indeed, it is possible for Tsuruko to constantly fire the attack while approaching foes from the air, resulting in pillars of burning energy shooting straight down like lightning bolts raining from the skies.
Heat End (流星螺旋聖拳突き・追加攻撃, Hīto Endo lit. Meteoric Spiralling Holy Fist Punch – Additional Attack): Heat End is a follow-up attack to Corkscrew Bullet; at the exact moment of impact for the former attack, Tsuruko is capable of gathering ambient energies within the atmosphere quickly, absorbing them into her hands through her Dimensional Coupler System, compressing the energies at a single point before she uses her Daybreak Drive to transform the supernatural particles into fighting spirit. From here, with her hand still contacting the opponent's body, Tsuruko unleashes the compressed fighting spirit in the form of a discharge of pure heat energy into the opponent's body, causing a powerful surge that grievously wounds them from within in a maneuver that is actually derived from Chinese martial arts. The discharge of pure heat into the opponent's body causes them to be blown away with even more force than the impact of the regular Corkscrew Impact would cause, releasing all of the energy in a single blast in a surge that extends far beyond Tsuruko's melee range, effective to at least dozens of meters, and retaining the crimson luminance in the shape of a fist. However, this portion of the attack can be stopped if the fighting spirit cannot travel through Tsuruko's arm or hand, essentially resulting in a blunt strike that, while powerful, does only one third of the damage that it normally would.
Chaser Smash (流星拳打, Cheisā Sumasshu lit. Meteor Fist Barrage): Chaser Smash is one of Gaiki's three Limit Breaks. When performing Chaser Smash, Tsuruko concentrates her Zero Effect into her hands, and suddenly makes the position of the stars of the Phoenix constellation. After this, Tsuruko lowers her stance and central balance to begin with and begins to aggressively weave her body in a pattern similar to the shape of a figure eight, making it increasingly difficult for the opponent to track and trace her movements accurately. By using the power of the Zero Effect, Tsuruko unleashes a flurry of over one hundred punches from left or right which target the opponent's pressure points, which enables her to transfer the Zero Effect that is currently coursing through her body into her opponent with relative ease in multiple locations at high speeds, causing all of her strikes to burn the opponent; it is striking the foe over a thousand times a second, and they are capable of attacking the foe over long distances. She launches this attack while continuing her bobbing and weaving, catching the target in a high paced barrage of punches that few succeed on escaping from. If Tsuruko has a full amount of stamina, more fists may strike, until they reach the speed of light. The fists land so fast that, after a volley, they seemingly connect simultaneously. The massive circles of air bursts from the punches surrounding Tsuruko resemble meteors; bombarding the opponent relentlessly. The sheer force of Chaser Smash is more than enough to cause a dragon to be blown away by the incredible power of the countless blows, knocking it a fair distance before it quickly melts into nothingness. It is said that Chaser Smash has the power of the sun itself packed into it, allowing Tsuruko to completely obliterate those with hearts of darkness. What should be noted is that the moment that Tsuruko strikes all of the opponent's pressure points and finishes the attack, she triggers the violent explosion of internal organs so characteristic of her fighting style.
Rocket Punch (無限伸縮自在拳, Roketto Panchi lit. Infinite Telescoping Fist): Rocket Punch is one of Tsuruko's three Limit Breaks alongside Victorize Kick and Chaser Smash; it is an extension of Corkscrew Bullet- literally. It involves the use of her Telescoping System—which allows her to manifest weaponry from her body. Through continuous compression of the Zero Effect and the spinning loops of her fist rotating at astounding speeds, Tsuruko compresses the energy around her fist. In addition, Tsuruko condenses the Zero Effect, intensifying the power by convergence and acceleration, turning her fist a scorching purple. Once the energy has been fully charged, Tsuruko performs a powerful punching motion as her upper right arm spins clockwise at high speed while her fist spins counterclockwise, which it then aims and launches at the target—releasing the energy imbued within her fist in a Corkscrew Bullet- this causes her fist to open up and another arm to extend out of it; with that arm opening up and extending out its own countless times, in a similar manner to a rocket or a chain, launching forward like a missile, punching straight through an enemy before returning and docking with the elbow again. It is noted to be extremely powerful; and it is "Steed, sword, and shining armour in one unified package"; more often than not her finishing blow. The moment that Tsuruko fires her forearm, its intense speed is further enhanced by the arm emitting incredible heat from its thrusters, allowing Tsuruko to smash through even diamond and opposing attacks; crushing almost any type of equipment with relative ease. Indeed, the attack is so fast that it ignites the hydrogen in the air, creating explosions similar to a meteorite catching fire while falling through the atmosphere at twenty five thousand miles per hour. The impact of the Rocket Punch releases oscillatory waves which radiate upon the opponent like a shockwave. The resulting resonance can crush the target and is particularly dangerous to electronic machinery; even capable of affecting nanomachines as well as Driver Belts; it is an attack that deals absolute destruction to opponents. There are at least two variations on this, both used against E in his dragonized form. In the first, the arm is launched first then begins to spin, and in the second, the arm spins against something before being launched. The second was effective against E's dragon scales, smashing through them with ease. The Rocket Punch has also been used on Amadam during the end of S1 in a variant where the fist does not detach at all, instead simply spinning rapidly during a punch. In this version, unlike previous Rocket Punch attacks, Tsuruko simply rears back and punches rather than holding her arm upwards before attacking - this allows the Rocket Punch to be performed much more quickly with little to no telegraphing. It should be noted that with Rocket Punch, Tsuruko's capable of utilizing the Zero Effect in order to grasp the opponent's Magic Origin and nullifying its existence, effectively depowering them. This is a major reason why Tsuruko often opts to utilize the attack over the flashier Victorize Kick, as she can render particularly dangerous opponents a non-threat so they would not be able to attempt to harm innocents or her loved ones again. Multiple Rocket Punches can be chained if several enemies are smashed correctly, either with one carefully-aimed punch or by turning to attack each enemy in turn when surrounded. The Rocket Punch can extend all the way up to the moon in around fifty seconds, meaning that it covers around seven thousand, six hundred, and eighty-eight kilometers per second- over 2.5% the speed of light. Tsuruko's fight with Phosphor shows that Rocket Punch can extend up into lunar orbit, travel around until it scores a hit then proceed to orbit the planet twice before coming back down without ever detaching from Tsuruko's arm, or her moving a single inch from where she's standing. Like many of Tsuruko's other signature attacks, there are several variations of the attack from rotating to armoured and weapon equipped versions.
Big Bang Rocket Punch (全見千億・無限伸縮自在拳, Biggu Ban Roketto Panchi lit. Hundred Billion Omnidirectional Infinite Telescoping Fists): Big Bang Rocket Punch is a variant of the regular Rocket Punch Limit Break that was developed to destroy everything in Tsuruko's line of sight, instead of plowing straight through a single target. Effectively, it is simply a combination of Tsuruko's Chaser Smash Limit Break and the Rocket Punch. When performing Big Bang Rocket Punch, through continuous compression of the Zero Effect and the spinning loops of her fist rotating at astounding speeds, Tsuruko compresses the energy around her fist, intensifying the power by convergence and acceleration, turning her fist a scorching purple; while this is happening, Tsuruko fuels more and more fighting spirit into her forearm, assisted by revving the Drive Lever on the Phoenix Driver four times as opposed to the regular thrice it would need to activate a Limit Break. Once the energy has been fully charged, Tsuruko performs a powerful punching motion as her upper right arm spins clockwise at high speed while her fist spins counterclockwise, which it then aims and launches at the target—releasing the energy imbued within her fist in a Corkscrew Bullet- this causes her fist to open up and another arm to extend out of it; all while her forearm fires forward; while this would normally be the end of it, forearms persist in protruding from Tsuruko's flying fist, which only accelerates by doubling the speed for every other Rocket Punch generated. The Big Bang Rocket Punch targets the opponent's existence regardless of their locality and temporality in the universe, causing the rocket fist to multiply to an innumerable number of gauntlets, smashing the enemy at every point in space and time to induce what seems to be Tsuruko attacking from every direction, even if the opponent attempts to evade the flurry of fists shooting towards them, the Big Bang Rocket Punch simply strikes them if they had not tried to dodge. From onlookers, countless forearms are appearing out of thin air, all advancing towards the opponent from every direction imaginable, causing a beautiful geometric curtain of death to close upon the enemy, leaving them with no proper way of evasion. After the initial omnidirectional onslaught, the fists combine into a gigantic version of Tsuruko's fist, before being launched at the helpless to deliver the finishing blow.
Zero Cutter Rocket Punch (大車輪・無限伸縮自在拳, Zero Kattā Roketto Panchi lit. The Great Wheel Ring Infinite Telescoping Fist): Zero Cutter Rocket Punch is a variant of the bog-standard Rocket Punch Limit Break which involves all six Zero Blades attaching themselves to the Rocket Punch, resulting in immense penetrative power that pierces through anything in the path of the fist while it slices through dimensions, advancing its speed even further than the regular version. When performing Zero Cutter Rocket Punch, through continuous compression of the Zero Effect and the spinning loops of her fist rotating at astounding speeds, Tsuruko compresses the energy around her fist, intensifying the power by convergence and acceleration, turning her fist a scorching purple; while this is happening, Tsuruko summons her six Zero Blades, blades that are coated with zero energy that eliminate everything around Tsuruko's body, even natural phenomena such as wind resistance; the Zero Blades are instantly arranged in a formation which has them point forward blade-first, beginning to spin wildly at astounding speeds. Once the energy has been fully charged, Tsuruko performs a powerful punching motion as her upper right arm spins clockwise at high speed while her fist spins counterclockwise, which it then aims and launches at the target—releasing the energy imbued within her fist in a Corkscrew Bullet- this causes her fist to open up and another arm to extend out of it; all while her forearm fires forward, with the Zero Blades still attached to her hand. Thanks to the addition of the six Zero Blades, the Rocket Punch can now slice and slash as well as bludgeon enemies, and through Tsuruko's mental command, she can harness the dimension-carving properties of the Zero Blades to open up rifts to other dimensions, allowing the Zero Cutter Rocket Punch to effectively teleport into the opponent, guaranteeing a clean hit no matter what. The Zero Cutter Rocket Punch is shown to be capable of extending up into lunar orbit, travelling around until it scores a hit then proceed to orbit the planet twice before coming back down without ever detaching from Tsuruko's arm, or her moving a single inch from where she's standing. This is the only attack besides Victorize Kick Version 5 in Tsuruko's arsenal which can damage fellow sources of Meteorium, and it is launched at an opponent at overwhelming speed surpassing nuclear bombs, making the it the most powerful version of Rocket Punch.
Victorize Kick (閃光魔術蹴り, Bikutāraizu Kikku lit. Flashing Magical Kick): Victorize Kick is known as Tsuruko's signature attack; in addition, it is also the first original attack that she developed. It's Tsuruko's most prominent finishing attack and one of Gaiki's Limit Breaks. In order to initiate this attack, Tsuruko imbues her leg with her fighting spirit, while focusing even more power around her foot; this intensifies the leg, focusing so much power upon her limb that it begins to shine golden. 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, passing through a series of light orbs where she subsequently moves faster and begins to emit sparkles. Then by descending, Tsuruko uses her speed to propel herself downward, giving off an explosive boost while descending at an angle at an overwhelming velocity—when in motion, she thrusts her leg forward, initiating a flying side kick as she pierces through the opponent, leaving trails of flame and light sparks in her wake. 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; the fighting spirit infused in her leg allows her to smash and tear through thick enemy armour with little effort. Because of the sheer velocity of the move, Tsuruko'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. However, there is a secret about the Victorize Kick—if the opponent is hit by the initial shockwave of Tsuruko charging her jump, then they will become stunned by falling down, leaving them vulnerable to the rest of the attack with no way to defend against it. The Victorize Kick has the uncanny ability to strike characters who are airborne, even magic users in elemental transformations, but it is rather difficult to actually hit an enemy with it and avoid being struck if the attack misses. Another unique property is that if the Victorize Kick ends with Tsuruko shooting towards a wall, she is capable of instantly bouncing off and gaining height, allowing her to attempt the attack again. As Tsuruko's signature move, alongside Corkscrew Bullet, Victorize Kick has the most variants that Tsuruko has displayed; she is capable of transforming any type of kick into a version of Victorize Kick. For one, besides the regular flying side kick and a spinning corkscrew variant, Tsuruko can unleash an one-hundred-and-eighty degree roundhouse kick both straightforwardly and in reverse, which is a three-hundred-and-sixty degree roundhouse kick used to surprise opponents who attempt to attack her from behind, a drop kick, a drop kick, an axe kick- where she jumps up and the kick strikes downward with the heel of the foot at the adversary, occasionally assisted by a frontflip, and a slide kick, where Tsuruko slides toward an enemy then kicks with her foot on the top side. While tag-teamming with Rosa during the fight against Mr. E, Tsuruko utilizes a variant of her Victorize Kick Limit Break called the Dragorize Kick (閃光魔術蹴り・荒れ光竜版, Dragoraizu Kikku lit. Flashing Magical Kick: Berserk Light Dragon Version); with this attack, four spinning tires of light manifest to surround the enemy and bombarded E while Tsuruko turns her back to the target as Rosa, in her dragon form races around her, allowing Tsuruko to focus her power. The tires then fully close in on the target, making the target shoot forwards towards Tsuruko, who instead jumps at Indra and kicks at her, making Tsuruko bounce off of Indra and kick the target. Tsuruko then keeps bouncing off Indra and kicking the target in a pinball-like manner with flaming strikes, though this is notably slower compared with the regular Victorize Kick until she comes in with the final kick, skidding to a stop. Overall, as Tsuruko's signature move, Victorize Kick is known to be astoundingly powerful, with countless variants developed to suit almost any situation at hand.
Victorize Kick Tornado (閃光魔術蹴り・旋風竜巻, Bikutāraizu Kikku Torunēdo lit. Flashing Magical Kick - Whirlwind Spin): Victorize Kick Tornado is a variant of Victorize Kick which involves Tsuruko spinning around towards her opponent in order to deliver multiple consecutive roundhouse kicks, sometimes in the air. In any case, when performing Victorize Kick Tornado, Tsuruko imbues her leg with her fighting spirit, while focusing even more power around her foot; this intensifies the leg, focusing so much power upon her limb that it begins to shine golden. 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 rotating her legs, spinning around at high speeds, causing a slight pull on nearby opponents while emitting a small tornado that devastates everything three meters from all directions around her. If the enemy is caught, Tsuruko's high-powered leg swing keeps the opponent trapped until the move ends. This makes escape via directional influence difficult. While powerful, it is known to be erratic; more often than not catching Tsuruko's foe off-guard while dealing a multitude of strikes; it is enhanced by the wind generated by the spiral formation that she spins around in; and thus it traps foes in a vicious cyclone of kicks which deals up to ten hits while damaging all the foes in the radius of her foot. When Victorize Kick Tornado is finished, the last hit dealt causes slightly more than moderate knockback, but can be very dangerous if used in the air, as while descending, Tsuruko is helpless due to the sheer momentum generated by the initial Victorize Kick Tornado, which had tired her out, leaving her completely vulnerable. Victorize Kick Tornado can be controlled, allowing Tsuruko to move in any direction while using the attack, and moving instead of remaining causes Tsuruko to extend the amount of time that she spins around. While using the Victorize Kick Tornado in the air, if all strikes make contact, the final blow is capable of knocking the opponent even higher into the air. This attack can be used for recovery as well. It gains great horizontal distance on top of some vertical distance, especially if she jumps before using the attack. However, something to note is that Tsuruko will bounce off of the ground rather than returning safely if the enemy manages to strike her while they are in the tornado.
Victorize Kneespike (閃光魔術蹴り・聖槍, Bikutāraizu Nīsupaiku lit. Flashing Magical Kick: Sacred Spear): Victorize Kneespike is a variant of the regular Victorize Kick where Tsuruko performs the normal Victorize Kick motions, but once in the air, she strikes her enemy knee-first, releasing an enormous amount of energy akin to electricity that blows the opponent away. When performing the Victorize Kneespike, Tsuruko imbues her leg with her fighting spirit, while focusing even more power around her foot; this intensifies the leg, focusing so much power upon her limb that it begins to shine golden. 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- but unlike other versions of the Victorize Kick, when using the Victorize Kneespike, Tsuruko leaps forward instead of upwards, racing straight towards the enemy- her speed is only bolstered by Tsuruko utilizing her boosters to accelerate towards the opponent as she focuses the fighting spirit gathered into her leg at a singular point- her knee. Upon reaching the opponent, she smashes into them with a knee strike that is best applied when the opponent is off-balanced, recovering from previous strikes, or as a counter to a strike by the opponent- it is also good as a follow-up maneuver after delivering a particularly incapacitating strike. In any case, the Victorize Kneespike possesses a rather short reach as Tsuruko's knee smashes into the enemy instead of her longer leg, but upon connection with the opponent, just like the regular Victorize Kick, all of the gathered fighting spirit is released, resulting in a powerful crackling electrical pulse that slams into the opponent, blasting them away in the blink of an eye. The Victorize Kneespike is known to instantly be released with exceptionally low lag and the knee strike causes the opponent to be paralyzed for a split second before they are blown away, sending foes flying a long way on a low trajectory. Due to the Victorize Kneespike's low ending lag, Tsuruko can use it as a launcher into another attack of any kind, often, well, another Victorize Kneespike. When used on any form of defense, if Tsuruko can land the Victorize Kneespike as low to the ground as possible, she will have enough time to grab the opponent if they attempt to defend. Provided that it makes impact with the head, the Victorize Kneespike possesses substantial momentum and knockout power.
Victorize Kick Version 5 (閃光魔術蹴り・完結編版, Bikutāraizu Kikku Bājon Faibu lit. Flashing Magical Kick: Ending Chapter Edition): In Tsuruko's battle against Charlotte Merquise, her old friend turned enemy, Tsuruko utilized an upgraded version of the Victorize Kick known as Victorize Kick Version 5 in order to defeat her opponent. Victorize Kick Version 5 is Tsuruko's most powerful non Spacetime Convergence Cannon attack- indeed, the attack is a Quintuple Limit Break, being the result of Tsuruko revving the Drive Lever on the Phoenix Driver an extra four times after revving it thrice in order to begin the normal Limit Break process, granting the extra power to unleash such an attack. When performing Victorize Kick Version 5, Tsuruko engages her "Wing Road" Vernier Thruster System, resulting in the boosters installed within her feet and shoulders revealing themselves. After launching the opponent airborne, Tsuruko then surges her fighting spirit to its utmost limit, resulting in her beginning to glow red and the Zero Blades manifesting upon her legs, pointing downwards aligned with her sole as she herself leaps into the skies, dashing towards her opponent, smashing them with a variety of kicks such as a bicycle kick with the Zero Blades stabbing through the opponent multiple times, a drop kick, a corkscrew kick, and a jumping roundhouse kick- she moves at such a velocity that she seems to leave scarlet afterimages, attacking four times before the opponent can even notice her movements. In any case, at the end of the Limit Break, Tsuruko flies above the target, descending with the final attack- the good old flying side kick, which, upon impact, unleashes a shockwave that utterly decimates the opponent as Tsuruko lands upon the ground. Due to effectively being five Limit Breaks in a row, whereas a Soul Armour Knight can generally only use a single Limit Break as a finishing move before the Soul Metal that serves as its main composition loses its power, immediately after Victorize Kick Version 5 ends, Gaiki disengages itself and Tsuruko collapses, exhausted. While the name "Victorize Kick Version 5" may refer to the five different kicks used in the attack, it's yet another example of Tsuruko's bizarre naming sense, used to entertain people to make them expect to see Version 2 through Version Four, but those did not exist, and it was simply a name that sounds "dramatic".
Shining Sword Breaker.
Shining Sword Breaker (華光耀劍鋒・緋凰絶炎衝, Shainingu Sōdo Burēkā lit. Blossoming Light, Shining Sword Point: Scarlet Phoenix Sever Blaze Rush): Shining Sword Breaker is one of the secret functions of Tsuruko's Deus Machina body, and it is classified as a Limit Break; it is a combination of offensive and defensive energies, based on the Two Powers into One (二に一力, Funi Ichi Ryoku) technique utilized by Archangel Uriel in order to create and destroy dimensions. When performing the Shining Sword Breaker Tsuruko overloads her circuits while surging her fighting spirit to its utmost limit, gathering enormous amounts of energy in the atmosphere by draining energy from all chosen life forms that surround her, conducting that energy into her frame as glimmering golden wisps begin to circle her body with a calm breeze that drifts away from her, expelling colourful bands of an Northern Lights-esque aurora. This results in an enormous upsurge of power that, with Gaiki equipped, causes the G-Circular to expel flames in the shape of enormous phoenix wings. As an aftereffect, purple sparks begin to scatter off of Tsuruko's body, causing a chemical reaction which initiates the attack. Tsuruko's speed increases dramatically, allowing her to reach unprecedented heights, forming a highly destructive barrier of energy around her body that takes the visage of a phoenix in flight as she accelerates for a theoretically infinite amount, to the point that she could outspeed the concept of time and space itself. This barrier of energy can burn through or penetrate any substance, and shoots herself forward are four times her own, already high, acceleration, allowing her to pierce through any substance in her way; and she flies the target at incredible speed, resulting in a quite devastating impact that can destroy creatures such as Overlord-class Hellions; it also allows Tsuruko to move at such a speed that any sort of vision or clairvoyance can no longer track her. Performing this attack also appears in certain situations to make Tsuruko unaffected by attacks: it allows her to pass harmlessly through most attack without any side effect, and it can also carry the effects of her Zero Effect- which destroys anything related to the supernatural upon contact, allowing her to harness the power of Shining Sword Breaker for a longer duration. When she has gained enough speed, she will gain a burning orange-and-red funnel-like aura which results in the formation of a phoenix-like apparition superimposed over her body. The power of Shining Sword Breaker is so immense that it releases an energy similar to the explosion that gave birth to the universe, the Big Bang. When opposing an attack of similar power, it will not only double or multiply, but increase infinitely. Shining Sword Breaker can only be blocked by attacks of a similar nature. There is one notable exception to this rule – the defenses of Signa were so impregnable that it was able to deflect Shining Sword Breaker with just its palms. Generally speaking, the success or failure of the move is invariably telegraphed by whether or not the enemy is properly sapped by the energy drainage effect first. The drawback of the Shining Sword Breaker is that it cannot be sustained for extended periods of time, since its unfavourable performance cost has Tsuruko strain her circuitry beyond its limits, and could potentially destroy Tsuruko herself— Giselle had told her that she could only use the Shining Sword Breaker a grand total of three times; and on the third time, her circuitry would overload, killing her in an enormous explosion. Because of this, Giselle attempted to immediately remove the function twice; the last time without Tsuruko's knowledge when she was sleeping, but Tsuruko convinced her to allow her to keep the Shining Sword Breaker. Nevertheless, this is a technique even stronger than Victorize Kick Version 5 and Tsuruko's strongest attack.
Dimension King Style
Dimension King Style (次元覇王流拳法, Jigen Haō-ryū Kenpō; Dimension King Style Fist Way): The Dimension King Style is a style of hand-to-hand fighting mastered by Tsuruko and taught to her by her grandfather- it is her signature skill, along with the Zero Effect. Dimension King Style is, quite simply, the empowerment of the physical body through the ambition that is within it, known as Ardor, and surrounding it. While the concept sounds rather simplistic, the mechanics behind it are indeed somewhat complex, and thus, the application of the fighting style is rather difficult for unskilled fighters. The stance of the Dimension King Style is referred to as the "Heaven Breaking Stance" (天破の構え, Tenha no Kamae); in this fighting stance, the user's left hand is cocked back, close to their face- specifically, adjacent to their cheek in a clawed gesture, elbow pointing back as their fingertips point downwards. Their right hand extends outwards relatively, bent to have their hand pointed to the left as their fist is curled into a ball as their knees are crouched slightly. Dimension King Style is a fighting style that is based on the principle that supernatural powers may exist in two forms - particles and energy. These two states of existence, within magical terms, allows for the sheer versatility that exists within magic today. This is displayed quite evidently by magic that uses the physical body - such as High Speed - which utilizes magical particles to achieve its desired effects, whereas the magical energy is used in most elemental magic, resonating with magic residing in the atmosphere in order to conjure its fantastical effects. In both cases, the magic itself cannot be produced within the body and taken outside of the body, as it must have an atmospheric, or bodily medium. However, this trait was annihilated by all forms of Slayer Magic, for they encapsulated biological change in order to allow humans to "seep" out magic from their pores and utilize it to enhance their own physical attributes, strengthening them enormously in comparison to regular magicians who generally approach combat from a mid to long range.
Upon training in the way of the Dimension King Style, the user's body and mind limiters are removed, allowing them to utilize their full potential in order to master the style with more ease. Removal of these limiters allows the user to gain near-superhuman speed and agility, as well as pseudo-clairvoyance which allows them to avoid their opponents' attacks by millimeters with very little effort in order to counter the very instant their foe's strike misses. The average being uses only thirty percent of their body's potential strength, but a master of the Dimension King Style can tap into the remaining seventy percent as well. The power of the Dimension King Style lies not in precision nor some secret ancient mumbo-jumbo, but rather, the user channeling their energy into a single blow, more often than not striking one of the enemy's "Hidden Channeling Points" (経絡秘孔, Keiraku Hikō) in the human body; however, instead of being consistently accurate, the fighter's fighting spirit augments the force of their blow, allowing their fighting spirit to be unleashed as a powerful pressure that will strike the opponent no matter where the user lands their attack. By hitting one of the Hidden Channeling Points, the user generally deals infinitely more damage than they would if they used a normal attack. A tendency of the fighting style is to recite the attack name after executing the attack, causing the opponent to explode- but it might not be enough to destroy them if they're powerful enough. With the Dimension King Style, the user, by striking one of the Hidden Channeling Points, can also heal targets. It can be used to launch energy-based attacks that can be used to strike targets at long range, or, to defend the user from attack.
The amazing power of the Dimension King Style originates from Tsuruko's fighting spirit and relies heavily on the successful execution of powerful strikes achieved through manipulating her fighting spirit in order to overwhelm the opponent by releasing shockwaves from her limbs through sheer force; these are the simple mechanics of the art. By using fighting spirit in conjuring with her moves, Tsuruko can create unique and dynamic attacks that deal destructive damage upon her targets, making Tsuruko a fierce force to be reckoned with in combat. Because of her mastery of her fighting style, Tsuruko is shown to have almost any physical attack be rendered pointless against her, as it becomes incredibly easy to dismantle some attacks and use them against her opponent, given they do not surpass her own reaction time or power, and negate them; she is shown to be extremely versatile with this. When using Dimension King Style, Tsuruko projects her blows using her fighting spirit itself as a perfect fulcrum, even if it doesn't belong to her or if it's in the field of her vision. This makes sure that there's very few chances of any supernatural defense measures that can hold off the attack—as when utilizing Dimension King Style, her fighting spirit allows her to view any offense or defense via magic, racial traits, fighting styles, or anything else as just "one thing", and thus, it treats the foe's own strike as a medium for the attack; the power is pure, and it doesn't feel the need to manipulate and control anything that Tsuruko or the foe can utilize.
Interestingly, the damage of Tsuruko's attacks are bolstered based on how much damage she has taken. This works by Tsuruko subconsciously converting part of the damage inflicted by the opponent into determination to defeat the enemy and accumulating it in her body; adding it to the power of her fighting spirit. The efficiency of this conversion into fighting spirit raises the more her own physical strength decreases. The fighting spirit that was accumulated in the body like this can be used to boost Tsuruko's abilities; as such, if she is damaged to the point of being on the verge of death, possibly an enormous amount of fighting spirit enough to destroy everything before her eyes can be saved up. Essentially, Tsuruko, at near death gains enough extra damage on her attacks to reduce the opponent's survivability by a relatively wide margin, in addition to increasing the radius of most of her moves; essentially giving her a wider range of attack. Dimension King Style also increases Tsuruko's power when she's nearly out of stamina; both these factors combined give her a relatively large chance to stage a comeback. The properties of Dimension King Style act as a double-edged sword however, where Tsuruko's attacks are extremely weak when she's mostly fine; as such, Tsuruko has to be battered and bloody to fight effectively, where she's then vulnerable to high damage herself. As such, the Dimension King Style is the epitome of risk versus reward. The martial art rewards Tsuruko for falling behind and punishes her for pulling ahead, which makes achieving a close battle a must in any situation. Tsuruko can also use her Zero Effect in place of her fighting spirit, or even in conjunction with it, to bolster her power even further. Despite the detail, Tsuruko herself rarely uses the offensive-type techniques associated with the Dimension King Style, instead harnessing it to perform a serial of defensive-type maneuvers whereas she mainly uses her own style to go on the offense.
Dimension King Style: Rock-Breaking Fissure-Opening Leg (元覇王流拳法・破岩裂開脚, Jigen Haō-ryū Kenpō: Hagan Retsukaikyaku): One of Tsuruko's better combo-openers; when performing the Rock-Breaking Fissure-Opening Leg, Tsuruko focuses her fighting spirit into one of her legs, and in the briefest of moments, this energy becomes tangible, as she slams her leg into the ground- when she does, a pulse of energy erupts from her leg for a moment and the sheer force of the movement causes the earth before her to split in half, a crack then travels long the ground and towards the opponent, possibly extending for miles; as this is going on, the earth shakes violently while the crack pulverizes the ground at the point of contact, causing ground quakes and sending out a powerful shockwave to blow away unsecured objects and destabilizes nearby foes; if the opponent falls into the fissure generated, the ground closes back up, trapping the opponent in the earth. If the opponent is trapped, then their powers and abilities are disabled until they are freed, as being stuck only lasts for the briefest of moments; while buried, the character cannot be grabbed. The amount of time a character remains buried is dependent on that character's stamina; the less stamina they have, the longer they will be stuck in the ground; and enemies can only be buried if already standing on the ground; otherwise, the Rock-Breaking Fissure-Opening Leg will simply smash opponents to the ground. While the Rock-Breaking Fissure-Opening Leg is plenty powerful on its own, it is far more effective as a combo-attack-starter, as the briefest of seconds that the opponent is trapped in the earth allows Tsuruko to quickly close the distance and unleash a flurry of blows.
Dimension King Style: Unbreakable Mountainous Steel-Body (次元覇王流拳法・不破砕山鋼体, Jigen Haō-ryū Kenpō: Fuhasai Zankōtai): The Unbreakable Mountainous Steel-Body is one of the most useful Dimension King Style techniques; it is an all-purpose counter that provides Tsuruko with ample amounts of resistance when making a movement, preventing the enemy from interrupting her strike; it is classified as a Offensive/Defensive-Type (攻性防御型, Kōsei Bōgyo-gata) attack. When performing the Unbreakable Mountainous Steel-Body, Tsuruko focuses her fighting spirit into her entire body as to form a thin sheet of fighting spirit around Tsuruko's body, creating a force similar to that of an invisible armour around her body, which enables Tsuruko to defend herself against attacks that would otherwise cause them significant damage- the activation of this technique is signified by a crimson, ink-like aura surging ever-so-slightly from her form. However, while Unbreakable Mountainous Steel-Body bolsters her defensive statistics significantly, this is not where its true power lies. As the name of the martial arts technique would suggest, Unbreakable Mountainous Steel-Body effectively generates a paper sheet-thin layer of fighting spirit, which, while compressed upon Tsuruko's body, results in a hardening of her muscles to the level of iron- by incorporating 'super-armour' theory as seen in fighting games, the application of Unbreakable Mountainous Steel-Body results in Tsuruko's senses of pain and seeming weakness of her body being removed for as long as the technique is active- this enables Tsuruko to endure damage without suffering from recoil, being stunned, or flinching which would normally interrupt her actions, such as attacking both with physical and supernatural moves, meaning that Unbreakable Mountainous Steel-Body being invoked results in Tsuruko being incapable of being stopped simply by attacking her. However, Unbreakable Mountainous Steel-Body only prevents Tsuruko from being interrupted- the opposing attack's full damage will still be taken. What this spell can help Tsuruko ignore the knockback of attacks ranging from extremely powerful spells like Crimson Lotus: Phoenix Blade, to extremely weak attacks such as the basic Fire Bullet. Typically, how much Unbreakable Mountainous Steel-Body can protect Tsuruko against is limited to a single strike, meaning that if Tsuruko gets hit twice, while executing a strike while harnessing the power of this Dimension King Style move, she will flinch as normal and her assault will be interrupted, meaning that a spell such as Crimson Lotus: Exploding Flame Blade can overcome Unbreakable Mountainous Steel-Body due to its multi-hitting feature. Furthermore, despite the increased physical density that Tsuruko gains when activating this move, it does not nullify damage, and one should remember that Tsuruko's body is still capable of taking damage; thus, her resistance to force has its limits- while Tsuruko can ignore the knockback of the opponent's attack when invoking the Unbreakable Mountainous Steel-Body, the blow will still damage her, meaning that in the face of an overwhelmingly powerful attack, in some cases, it would simply be easier to evade if possible. It's worth noting explosive projectiles can still explode and will still do damage if Tsuruko is struck when the invincibility ceases.
Dimension King Style: Spinning Break (次元覇王流拳法・旋衝破, Jigen Haō-ryū Kenpō: Senshōha; Senshō, literally "spin-thrust", is a rarely-used kanji phrase for "spinning"): A unique Dimension King Style technique that Tsuruko herself developed upon analyzing numerous retaliation-type techniques of all origins- its purpose was that of a technique that could return all sorts of projectiles to sender, being a countering-defensive-type technique. In order to initiate the Spinning Break, Tsuruko gathers and condenses her fighting spirit upon one or both of her hands, compressing it to the point that a mass of crimson remains flowing around her arm/s, spiralling about magnificently. From here, Tsuruko targets a projectile of her choice, no matter its size, speed, or power, while harnessing her burning fighting spirit to influence the projectile barreling towards her small frame, accelerating its motions at a rapid pace until it becomes naught but a thin point of energy, no longer distinguished between its composition -magic, curse, and other fighting spirit techniques (provided Tsuruko has more burning passion than the launcher in the case of the latter)- but rather, as a mass of energy that Tsuruko is capable of affecting without any problems on her part. Using her immense mastery over all sorts of martial arts in conjunction with her blazing willpower, Tsuruko then grabs ahold of the projectile shooting towards her body by reaching outwards a short distance, seizing the projectile once it is within range, grasping it with her hand(s) without the projectile harming her in any way. At this point, if Tsuruko deems it suitable, she can store it away by absorbing it with her fighting spirit and bringing it out for later usage- but by announcing the name of this technique once more, she can retrieve and return it to sender, essentially taking an attack, but its power is accelerated into a drill that she then guides with her hands, spinning around and returning it the velocity of an projectile just as it contacts with her, before clutching it in her hands. Twirling it around, Tsuruko throws it back at her opponent at twice the speed and force. Projectiles that can be thrown will be held onto by Tsuruko and can be used as normal, such as bombs and bullets. Retrieved projectiles, however, are automatically thrown, with Tsuruko's own power doubling their speed and strength; in addition, they will follow the trajectory they were traveling at prior to being grabbed, such as a Lightning Magic spell such as Raging Bolt would shoot straight downwards and a Dragon's Roar would be projected forwards. Because of the doubling of the power of these projectiles, they can deal much larger amounts of damage, and can instantly shatter all sorts of defenses upon impact- if a stopped projectile normally has an immediate effect when picked up, it will activate immediately once retrieved; this can allow Tsuruko to store things for later use, but projectiles are lost if they are not retrieved after thirty seconds. If Tsuruko is currently storing a projectile within her fighting spirit, instead of throwing the object in her current direction, she will grab the projectile she grabs now and swap it with that which was previously stored within her fighting spirit, automatically throwing what is previously there. As this redirection occurs both suddenly and unexpectedly, the reflected attack can prove difficult for opponents to evade. The reflection is so swift that it appears as if Tsuruko herself had launched the attack, confounding many an opponent. This technique is capable of bending the opposing projectile away from her, as well as some physical attacks. However, the technique is difficult to use has it can only manipulate so many kinetic energy particles at a time and it required precise timing. Thus, this grants Tsuruko immunity to most attacks, and can defend other allies with it. However, Tsuruko is still subject any secondary effects the attack could have. Furthermore there is always the danger that the attack could explode upon deacceleration as well. The Spinning Break is capable of freeing Tsuruko from seals and all sorts of supernaturally restraining abilities. As such, due to this attack, binds and shields are useless against Tsuruko, as it is a "catch-and-throwback" ability that does not break the opponent's attack.
Arcanite Fist
Arcanite Fist (奥義秘伝の正拳流, Ākanaito Fisuto lit. Esoterica of the Proper Fist Style): The Arcanite Fist is a style of hand-to-hand combat that all Espers use when battling, which is used through better handling of their Esper powers and involves the projection of their magical energies into the atmosphere itself- it can be said to be the solid proof of an Esper breaking the stereotype of 'magic-focused fighters being physically weak'. In the style of Arcanite Fist, the user focuses on using mostly their arms and legs; rather, every part of their arms and legs to deal immense damage to the opponent; it is a constantly activated fighting style. It would be more accurate to not call it a type of magic, but rather a spell that mixes the Esper's affinity for magic with their skills with fighting. To go into detail, an Esper's Magic Origin grants the Esper the ability to absorb magical energy and ambient eternano saturated within the immediate vicinity, enabling them to channel those energies in any way that they wish- this means that their attacks get stronger the later in battle they are unleashed. With some minor assistance from the Magic Skill known as Eternano Haste and of course, their Magic Origin, the Esper is capable of drawing in ambient eternano from the atmosphere, and instead of absorbing it into their magical origin, they are able to manipulate the eternano for offensive, defensive, and supportive purposes in any way that they deem suitable going even further, the Esper is capable of compressing magical energy and eternano into their limbs, granting them varying and unique properties- this entire process results in the birth of a magical power-collection-type fighting style known as Arcanite Fist, which is a series of cross-range arms-based attacks.
Through expert levels of supernatural energy manipulation, Arcanite Fist can be considered a one-of-a-kind power as this "magic" enables the Esper to project their blows using energy themselves –both magical energy and eternano- as the ultimate fulcrum for transference of energies, even if the energies used as a medium for their Arcanite Fist attacks do not belong to the Esper, or if they're in the vicinity of their Magical Aura's upsurge. Because of this property which ensures "complete domination of the supernatural", there are nada, zero, zip, and zilch chances of there ever being any kind of supernatural defensive technique that is capable of withstanding or even attempting to defend against any of the Esper's Arcanite Fist-empowered attacks. To elaborate, thanks to their Magi Origin, which bunches together all forms of supernatural powers, whether they be Magic, Curses, or more as one- and going onward, this mystical power source treats all spell classifications as a single type, effectively stripping the powers of what could separate them from the rest, causing these abilities to be known as simply "spells"; by quantifying it down to the simplest form, perceiving offense and defense as naught but the concept of "ability", resulting in the Arcanite Fist blows utilizing the enemy's magic-based attacks as the medium for the Esper's own strikes.
The magical energy released by the Esper when harnessing the power of the Arcanite Fist is simply pure energy with no strings attached in its composition, and it is not influenced by anything that the foe can utilize, meaning that it will strike without fail. If the enemy attempts to utilize magical attacks the Esper, then by using Arcanite Fist, they can turn that magical energy upon the foe and harness the exact amount of magical energy generated by the foe's attack in order to massively augment their own blow. Indeed, with the Arcanite Fist, the Esper is capable of projecting their magical energy as unnamed spheres or waves of pure magical energy which can deal a fair amount of damage, ropes to bind enemies, jet-bursts of speed, barriers, traps, or they can use it to boost their defenses by wrapping it around her entire body, serving as a barrier of sorts against both regular and magic attacks, as well as working to protect their from opposing magic aura pressure; the skies are the limit in regards to that an Esper can and cannot do with their magical energy. The Arcanite Fist, as mentioned above, is always activated- while the above sections describe how an Esper fights, the fighting style is a continuous supplementary effect that bolsters their power constantly.
The Arcanite Fist grants the Esper the ability to harness their magical power more efficiently than other magic-based combatants and utilize it in a variety of different ways; all of which incorporate the focusing of magic power into certain areas in order to achieve numerous and highly varied effects such as increased attack, defense, and speed, or feeding extra eternano into attacks to give them an enormous boost in power. Generally, because of this, an Esper has an easier time collecting this stray eternano in environments with higher concentrations of it such as the area where a vicious battle between others has progressed. To an Esper, there is no difference between simple eternano and their own magical energy as a source of power. Their magical prowess functions as a defense against illusions due to their sheer mastery over it, making them all but immune to everything except the strongest of fabrications; and even then, they are capable of shrugging them off effortlessly. It is not uncommon to see an Esper launch waves of pure magical energy with every movement that they make while erecting split-second barriers for defense. Arcanite Fist is unable to be taught to anyone else except an Esper- it is a power born from the ingenuity of Esperkind in regards to the flow and ebb of magical energy as well as their species-exclusive magic origin. Not only this, even if it were capable of being learnt by others, the original Arcanite Fist was born from a fluke, as the fusion of a an organ with the legitimate method of developing of a proper Magic is something unheard of. The strongest techniques of Arcanite Fist are known as Arcanite Fist Extremity (奥義秘伝の正拳流・奥義, Ākanaito Fisuto Ekusutorīmiti lit. Esoterica of the Proper Fist Style: Secret Art). While Tsuruko, not being an Esper (obviously), has no access to magical power, she substitutes those magic with her Zero Effect or fighting spirit, drastically enhancing the power of the art to accommodate and match up to a proper Arcanite Fist user's power.
Expert Swordsmanship Specialist
Tsuruko's swordsmanship against Itsuka Nightray in Daybreak S3.
Expert Swordsmanship Specialist: Tsuruko demonstrates a natural aptitude for the ways of the sword and is able to best her enemies easily; fighting in a style which she dubs My Style (私式, Watashi-shiki). Tsuruko is primarily an instinctual fighter, using relying on subconscious knowledge of traditional yet flashy sword techniques to deal punishing blows to her hapless opponents. Tsuruko has shown great skill in utilizing the reverse-grip of swordsmanship—which is her regular way of holding Dragredder; and she is even capable of employing her sword effectively using her feet, by wielding their hilts between her hallux and second toe; wielding it in a similar manner to breakdancing. Her attacks are so fierce and swift, that her foes rarely, if ever, have the chance to launch a proper counterattack. Her swordsmanship is enough for her to slash with enough force to cause her swings to become capable of slicing through metal using only the air pressure. Her way of swordfighting is completely self-taught, and borrows moves from several others she is in association with. Utilizing sweeping, random movements, upon close inspection, it should be noted that Tsuruko's style of swordfighting is almost, nay, identical to her way of going about hand-to-hand combat, with unpredictability being her greatest asset when forced to pick up a bladed weapon. Many of her attacks are initiated by Tsuruko jumping or dodging before attacking, letting her swiftly dodge enemy attacks and counter with her own in the same movement. Her attacks consist of fast-paced sword combos and powerful kicks, and she is mostly a melee fighter, as most of her ranged attacks are mid-ranged, and she has slow recovery when attacking. As with her hand-to-hand style, Tsuruko's swordfighting is based upon breakdancing, something only her odd mind could come up with, making up her next movements as well as techniques as she fights. Tsuruko 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. Her power attacks are able to knock her opponents back just through sheer kinetic force, throwing them off balance and leaving them vulnerable to further brute-force strikes and power blows that sought not just to penetrate her opponents' defense, but also to push them back and leave them unable to counter blows; leading her style of battle to be tremendously deadly. However, Tsuruko has always held a greater love for hand-to-hand combat, and seeing that lugging around Dragredder everywhere was tiring, she eventually discontinued practicing swordsmanship in favour of her long love of martial arts. Even though she dropped the art, Tsuruko picked up the Excalibur sword in Daybreak S3 to fend off Itsuka Nightray, showing that nearly a decade of inactivity regarding swordsmanship hadn't dulled her edge.
Physical Prowess
Immeasurable Strength
Immeasurable Strength: Tsuruko's strength is a rather important aspect of her fighting style, and one of the most notable things about her; the sheer amount of strength she has can be considered being akin to a power that could shatter the world. Indeed, due to her origins as Deus Machina Number Three, she is made of an unidentified alloy mistaken by many as Orichalcum- it's a one-of-a-kind meteoric ore, theorized to be of extraterrestrial origin. Dzerve later clarifies that the alloy was derived from the Catalyst Comet, which brought the zero particles (and derived from it, eternano and magic) to the Old World before the world was rebooted into Earth Land, Edolas, and Aether. The alloy is unbreakable under any circumstances; indeed, even a small chip of the alloy is shown to be capable of surviving numerous nuclear explosions, while sustaining absolutely zero damage. Because of its composure, the alloy, whether blunt or sharp, is capable of smashing through or slicing through almost any known substance, with Soul Metal and Devius' nanomachine armour being an exception. Most notably, the alloy is capable of tearing through any sort of magic like a hot knife through butter, further augmented by the Zero Effect, enabling Tsuruko to effectively terminate the threat of magic.
In any case, due to Tsuruko's construction materials and numerous other factors, she is effectively the physically strongest character in the Sun Trilogy, especially after Daybreak S3, where Tsuruko has no real competition regarding the title. The exact limitations of Tsuruko's strength is indefinable, but she is capable lifting far in excess of twenty-four tonnes—indeed, her "normal" punches and kicks are said to have the force of twenty-four tonnes behind them—her exact weight. Indeed, because of this, she's capable of effortlessly defeating powerful monsters and villains, with a single, nonchalant attack. Due to the sheer force behind all of her blows, many enemies simply explode violently the moment that Tsuruko's unarmed attacks come into contact with them- this is because her strength enables her to split the hydrogen in the air. Her inherent immense power is only amplified by the momentum at which she moves; making her strong enough to smash her way through enemies and, as said before, almost any material, destroy surfaces by stomping, or break down solid walls; and she is able to lift and press many times her own weight. Because of her strength, Tsuruko is also shown to effortlessly destroy buildings with a single strike; and by simply stomping upon the ground, she's capable of splitting the earth before her into an enormous chasm. Indeed; Tsuruko is capable of smashing through solid Orichalcum and the scales of a dragon with a single unarmed blow; and her attacks are able to release shockwaves with every impact. Her power is more than enough to catch a sword strike between two of her fingers –even when the sword is made of Orichalcum-, even overpowering the person swinging the blade with relative ease. Tsuruko's jaw is powerful enough to bite through and shatter numerous types of metal—on many occasions, she's shown to simply chomp down on various swords and break them, even the legendary Excalibur which was said to rend heaven and earth with its sharpness.
Tsuruko's inability to fly is somewhat compensated for by her ability to use her strength to leap tremendous heights and distances; the initial limits of which 'simply' allow her to touch the skies in a single bound. This can be shown in a more mundane manner by her smashing her head through the upper floor of her dorm room in La Pucelle in order to tell Kaguya something. Another notable instance of this is during the Constellation Skirmish, where Alexis Tenjouin attempted to fire upon the hideout of the Zodiac Knights with the Etherion satellite. In order to prevent her from doing so –as the blast would wipe out Hargeon as well-, Tsuruko launched herself from the rooftop of La Pucelle, soaring into the sky and smashing right through the barrel of the satellite before tearing the Etherion apart with her bare hands from within- another thing to look at is that just by leaping off of the building, she accidently crushed it due to her immense strength. However, all of these examples pale before Tsuruko's fight with Devius in Daybreak S3—when Tsuruko was launched from the Old World to the Moon by Devius' Nanorage attack, she utilized her immense strength and channeled it into a jump that enabled her to return to the Old World in a fraction of a second- upon landing, the sheer force generated by her impact caused an enormous shockwave that devastated a city and immense tremors shook the world. Another thing to note is that Tsuruko can throw objects through the air with such force that she can set them aflame through sheer friction.
Tsuruko unleashing her full strength.
Strength Control: An important part of Tsuruko's powers- no, her daily life- is the ability to properly moderate the amount of strength that she properly exerts at any given time. Willingly or subconsciously –the distinction is never really made-, Tsuruko places limiters upon her body that, well, obviously, limit her physical strength- this removes the possibility that she could kill somebody by complete accident. This is done by using her Zero Effect to affect her limbs—the Zero Effect nullifies and negates any phenomena, and Tsuruko's strength is considered "superhuman". This enables her to interact with her surroundings casually- almost as if she were a completely normal, ordinary young girl. This is essential for her own sanity—all of her life, Tsuruko has had the subconscious fear of being "different" from other people (in this case being something straight out of a super robot show anthropomorphized as a cute girl); and the mere thought of accidentally killing somebody due to her strength has scared her stiff on numerous occasions before developing this technique. In order to release this technique, Tsuruko simply wills it, either with voice activation or thought, causing the visage of light shards shattering around her limbs to appear- this is simply formed by the Zero Effect for drama's sake- as Tsuruko loves putting on a show. The release of the limiters tends to cause a shockwave to erupt from her body- specifically her feet. This devastates the vicinity and causes an upsurge of sheer power that takes the form of a jagged aura of pure energy emanating from her very person. As a side note, if Tsuruko is struck by outside forces in this "state", her body is treated as if she were in her "normal state". Indeed, once her limiters are removed, Tsuruko is ready to annihilate her opponents in the blink of an eye.
Shockwave (力生成滅波, Shokkūeibu lit. Force-Generated Destruction Wave): Not a spell nor a supernatural ability per-se in any of its existences, a shockwave is a natural phenomena that is said to be one of the highest forms of vibration; it is an emission of pure concussive force that can cause intense amounts of destruction. It is actually relatively simple to induce a shockwave – as it's simply a propagating disturbance, all the user is required to do is focus a large amount of kinetic energy, which is the energy possessed by any moving object; into one or more of their limbs, gathering it in a single movement by making a movement with the selected limbs in question at high speeds to ensure that the ensuing blow would cause an intense acceleration of the kinetic energy to grant it amazing force as the user launches the extremity of choice from any direction – once their strike has made contact with something, they release these incredible amounts of kinetic energy from the "small point" known as the end of their limb, and as long as the medium is even slightly tangible, the shockwave comes into existence as a form of a high-pressure wave of pure concussive force that travels faster than the speed of sound and can propagate through the point of impact, shaking both the medium and anything around it, causing the objects around the point-of-impact to vibrate erratically in an extremely hard and fast wave, which causes other things that the material touches to vibrate too, resulting in a powerful explosion that does even more damage – it is called a "shock wave" because the wave of concussive force reverberates up and down like a crashing wave in the ocean. Upon releasing the shockwave, the wave of pure concussive of sorts more often than not damages the surrounding environment, blasting through the medium it was transferred through at astounding speeds in any direction that the user chooses upon release; these shockwaves can ripple through the ground or in the atmosphere, bringing mass destruction to anything that they come into contact with- they can repulse enemies away with incredible force while pushing over those on the fringe of the shockwave and shattering delicate substances; at the highest point, a shockwave can even cause minor earthquakes by shaking the ground or dislodging underground tectonic plates. The shockwaves can uproot trees, rend the earth, cut the skies, and smash small buildings, radiating throughout the vicinity, even disrupting enemy spells if they are being cast at the time, sending them careening across the landscape in the blink of an eye. As mentioned before, a shockwave can ripple along anything at all as long as it is even slightly tangible; however, not only this, the consistency and makeup of what this wave of pure concussive force runs through has a rather subtle effect on how the shockwave reacts – for example, while a shockwave that travels through the ground is an earthquake, a thick liquid such as an ocean would result in the shockwave having a wider area-of-effect, but in contrast, a thin material like air would have the opposite effect, though in all manifestations, a shockwave is extremely deadly as it is both fast and powerful, making it easy to use and practical.
Hypersonic Speed
Hypersonic Speed: Another one of Tsuruko's most notable features is her law-defying speed—that is to say, it's in a class of its own. Because of the miniaturized rocket boosters installed in her feet and legs, plus her own natural strength, Tsuruko has shown the ability to instantly accelerate to and move at speeds far greater than mach speed (which is approximately seven hundred and sixty-eight miles per hour); indeed, because of this amazing swiftness, users of High Speed, Slowing Magic, and any speed-enhancing power, whether it be magic, Curse, or anything else, are shown to be considered akin to snails in regards to her own movements. It is notable that Tsuruko is capable of dashing backwards at full speed just as proficiently as she is dashing forwards—she maintains full control of her speed all times, capable of turning and breaking on a dime. Indeed, it's said that on her first day during Physical Education at La Pucelle, Tsuruko completed a one thousand, five hundred meter dash in the blink of an eye. Tsuruko's capable of scaling right up vertical surfaces and ceilings, sprinting on water (like a certain famous mythological figure, suspiciously enough), smash her way straight through anything in her path, and even move at such a speed that the ground explodes in her wake. On a more humourous note, after accidentally dropping a sandwich that Excellen made her for lunch out of the school window, Tsuruko quickly ran down the building, saving it, and leaping back up said building without anyone (sans Giselle) noticing that she had done such a thing.
Tsuruko has shown to be capable of effortlessly out-speeding Elsie Albion, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, whose spell, Shinsoku, supposedly enables her to move at near-light speeds- she countered the spell just by hopping side-to-side. While Elsie created twenty shadow clones with speed, Tsuruko created infinite clones with side hops. What brought Elsie down was the shockwaves of Tsuruko's side-hops. Indeed, during the Constellation Skirmish, Tsuruko showed the ability to move several times the speed of sound- when facing Joker, she went three rounds with her in less than thirty seconds over the right to activate the Magic Draining Bomb- which would remove magic from the world, obviously. During their clash, Joker made the observation that Tsuruko kept getting "faster and faster", going from "supersonic", which is nine hundred and fifteen miles per hour to three thousand, eight hundred and fourty miles per hour, to "hypersonic", which is three thousand, eight hundred and fourty miles per hour to seven thousand, six hundred and eighty miles per hour. In another incident, during her final battle with Amadam at the climax of Daybreak S2, even he, with his precognition and super senses (plus hypersonic movement) couldn't react to her actions, and an onlooking Gary noted that she seemed to be moving at faster-than-light speeds—though this couldn't be proven. In any case, her immense speed and swift reflexes enable her to react to situations without causing civilians undo stress. Normally, Tsuruko has shown the ability to create sonic booms when in motion –each step upon the ground unleashes one-, though if sprinting for long distances, she use a mild form of her Strength Control ability to prevent the sonic booms from being released by her movements to avoid collateral damage and civilian casualties.
Going further, by maintaining full control over her speed, Tsuruko is capable of utilizing its potency to its full utility in any kind of environment (even in the air, beneath the ground, or underwater), tying her speed into her fighting style, utilizing it for overwhelmingly swift offense and defense. Indeed, Tsuruko is not only capable of running at maximum speed in straight lines, but also in full tight circles and through sharp turns with complete control over her momentum- she's shown the uncanny ability to avoid obstacles and unintended targets. Tsuruko has been shown to be able to evade many a combatant in both long and close-range; her movements are so tremendously swift that few would be likely to see an attack take place—this enables her to attack almost a multiple of thirty times in a row per second. Tsuruko is amazingly well coordinated, as she is able to catch bullets in mid-air; her tremendous reflexes, agility and speed usually enables her to dodge many a powerful projectile while balancing herself on one hand. Tsuruko 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 Tsuruko's reflexes enhance her speed even further, to the point that it seems as if Tsuruko 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. Due to being so small and spry, Tsuruko is highly flexible in battle- able to perform one-handed backflips, somersaults, and mid-air cartwheels with little effort in terms of physical strain. She's also capable of applying her speed in combat or for other maneuvers such as healing herself by vibrating her body, or launching shockwaves by spinning at high speeds. In addition, her amazing speed allows a limited form of aerokinesis by creating tornadoes and blades of wind with her high-speed movements.
Wavejet Step (本職使い瞬動・噴射高速蹲踞疾走, Uēbujetto Suteppu lit. Professional-Usage Instant Movement Technique: Jet-Propelled High-Speed Crouching Sprint): The Wavejet Step is a hideously overpoweredvery useful high-speed movement technique that is classified as a martial arts-based ability revolving around the user's steps that can be performed as long as the user has some sort of supernatural energy fuelling their movements, whether it be magical power, curse power, or even good ol' fighting spirit- but what Wavejet Step is, is a jump that is canceled by descending instantly so that the user never leaves the ground, resulting in a sliding motion that produces smoke at the user's feet and a freakishly swift burst of brief acceleration for three seconds. It is regarded as a high-level advanced technique that only those deeply engrossed with close-range combat that is superior to all 'traditional' forms of speed-enhancing powers such as High Speed and Slowing Magic because it allows the user to perform any ground action while moving horizontally on the ground. In any case, the Wavejet Step is performed by the user ascending to the skies in an extremely short hop that ideally shouldn't have them raise more than ten centimeters above the ground- from here, the user gathers and condenses their supernatural energies of choice upon the soles of their shoes/feet, before they shift a majority of their weight to their legs, descending upon the ground as swiftly as they entered the air, giving off the appearance of never having left the ground- but indeed, upon contact with the ground, the shock of the impact releases an airhorn-like sound as it transfers the momentum that the user had accumulated via briefly hopping into the air into a swift strafing movement of ground-based movement, sliding long the ground without walking or running; resulting in a sliding motion that produces smoke of varying colours at the character's feet. The length of time that a user slides by harnessing Wavejet Step is determined by a number of factors: by the angle at which they charged energies into their feet -with low angles yielding longer Wavejet Steps- how close to the ground they were before charging -the closer the user, the longer their Wavejet Step- and finally, the character's traction -low traction yields long streams of movements, while high traction yields shorter slides. One use of Wavejet Step by itself is not particularly useful; it is when the move is repeated rapidly that it becomes both impressive and supremely practical, and it is capable of being harnessed for a near immeasurable amount of purposes- it is useful for quickly escaping from close combat with an opponent, and it can get a user to the end of an area to the other faster than any other type of movement; the Wavejet Step can also be harnessed in order to avoid anything in the user's way that would impede their movements, enabling each and every one of their actions and movements while under the effect of the Wavejet Step being precise as humanly possible. It can lead into many combos and techniques; and because by harnessing the Wavejet Step, the user is technically standing as they slide, they can perform any ground attacks that could normally be performed from a standing position while retaining all of their standing defensive maneuvers- a skilled user can use another high-speed movement while under the effects of the Wavejet Step as well. A skilled user can take the concept of maneuverability derived from the Wavejet Step a step further, harnessing the techniques to dodge enemy attacks and set up a counterattack; after a while, it becomes instrumental in characters' combos and their defense. Those who are slow can rely on the Wavejet Step in order to extricate themselves from difficult situations. Additionally, the concept of hopping into the air before descending instantly towards the ground provides a useful segue from a character's aerial combat to their basic ground combat. However, Wavejet Step can be interrupted, but mind-games and mix-ups can trick the opponent. All of this combined to make harnessing the Wavejet Step a very rapid mind-game aspect that is difficult to counter; generally, a fighter harnessing the Wavejet Step in rapid succession means that they possess above-average skills. Tsuruko herself does know the Wavejet Step- however, she prefers to rely on her natural movements- she learnt the skill from Jonas Mercury some time before the Finale Part I arc of Daybreak S1. Tsuruko only uses it once with her fighting spirit to shoot towards Charlotte and hit her with Corkscrew Bullet without leaving the ground, allowing her to use Impact to charge the power of her blow. However, other than that, Tsuruko ditches the technique after only using it once, in favour of her Vanishing Drive technique, which is leagues superior in terms of mobility and ability.
Vanishing Drive (自流瞬動・閃誘高速縮地反撃, Banishingu Doraibu lit. Self-Styled Instant Movement Technique: Flash-Induced High-Speed Reduced Earth Counterattack): Vanishing Drive is a powerful defensive-offensive type high-speed movement technique that breaks the limits of the sound barrier to achieve a speed without equal that is misguidedly compared to the likes of the speed of light; it is often touted as the "supreme form of ultimate speed"; but Vanishing Drive is a short burst of "ultimate speed" that mimics teleportation, disappearing before reappearing closer to the enemy with a powerful attack. It is one of Tsuruko's signature moves, alongside the Victorize Kick- but as a high-speed movement-type technique, it is not a Limit Break. The creation of Vanishing Drive begins in the Esper Excellen Part II arc when Tsuruko discovers a boomerang in Alphonse's room after having travelled to Luin to see Tsuruko's father's side of the family with Excellen to cure Hikari of her disease, with the inscription "follow the movement of the wind" on it. When Tsuruko questioned Marisa Sejren on such a thing, she cryptically tells Tsuruko that "Gaiki is the Soul Armour of the Sky, meaning that it should be most at home in the air". Spending some time after defeating the Dracolich with Excellen at the end of the arc in Luin, helping rebuild after all the damage the fight did to the surroundings; Tsuruko continued to fiddle around with the boomerang, finally coming to a realization that her movements would have to be like that of a boomerang itself, the high-speed spinning motion allowing the utensil to rip through the air in the blink of an eye and return unexpectedly. While Tsuruko didn't have much time to practice, she soon used an incomplete version of Vanishing Drive against Charlotte Merquise twice- once, to move faster than the latter's Accellight spell and counter her Vanishing Counter, and once more at the end of the battle to gain enough of a build-up of energy to perform the Victorize Kick Version 5, thus securing victory. When performing Vanishing Drive, Tsuruko kicks off a thousand times in the blink of an eye while spinning around to mimic the movement of a boomerang, causing her to gather additional kinetic energy within her legs in order to enhance her already tremendous speed, drastically boosting her movements exponentially as her fighting spirit surges around her; the spinning motions that Tsuruko undergoes raises her fighting spirit by ten times the amount for the duration of Vanishing Drive by increasing her heart rate - with that in mind, Tsuruko leaps forward at speeds beyond mortal comprehension, resulting in the release of a flurry of sonic booms that devastate everything around her and a fair amount of noise which can be considered akin to a thousand phoenixes squawking when in motion - while accelerating forwards, a light-blue aura shrouds her body as golden feathers molt off of her figure in mass amounts, filling the area with a soothing light. As per the name of Vanishing Drive, when Tsuruko performs the technique, while accelerating under its effects, she disappears from sight- not just visually, but those who can sense energy or have eyes that could normally detect everything are incapable of pinpointing her location, not becoming invisible but completely vanishing- the velocity makes it seem that the positions of Tsuruko and where she desires to travel have been reduced to naught in a flash through her amazing movements with a quick, clean dash; she only really reappears to land an attack. Her motions when inducing Vanishing Drive resemble that of a whirling top, or more accurately, a boomerang, as she leaves countless fissures in her wake with every step that she takes, and midair the very air itself which she darts through shakes violently as each and every one of Tsuruko's movements manifest intense waves of heat as well as discharges electricity; she is accompanied by gale-force razor-esque winds which unleash powerful shockwaves, furthering the destruction brought upon the current plane of existence just by Tsuruko's movements even more. Vanishing Drive can be put to an offensive use by Tsuruko putting her weight –an entire twenty-plus tonnes- into the technique, essentially turning herself into a cannonball that bounds around at amazing speed, allowing her to damage enemies and opponents simply by running into them. However, this is nowhere near Vanishing Drive's true power- as the kanji in the name would indicate; Vanishing Drive serves the purpose of a countering strike; if the opponent manages to actually catch Tsuruko, or if Tsuruko comes into glancing contact with an enemy while tangible, she will then vanish once more, and like a boomerang, she will immediately spin around to flank the opponent depending on the direction that she and the enemy contact without any delay, allowing her to counterattack with any strike of her own. When Vanishing Drive ends, Tsuruko will then fall back on the ground and start running normally with streams of air and light released in her wake. However, the Vanishing Drive has a weakness; when performing the technique, it is extremely difficult to see her destination, though not impossible—but it requires amazing reflexes and split-second reactions in order to use properly; making it a 'high risk, high reward' ability.
Vanishing Drive: Triplicate (自流瞬動・閃誘高速縮地反撃・三重分身影響, Banishingu Doraibu: Toripurikēto lit. Self-Styled Instant Movement Technique: Flash-Induced High-Speed Reduced Earth Counterattack – Threefold Doppelganger Shadow Echo): A completely unintentional side-effect of Vanishing Drive is that due to the sheer velocity that Tsuruko moves at, she creates speed-clones by accident. Indeed, when in motion, speed-clones composed of azure energy manifest, following her exact movements- these speed-clones are capable of confusing enemies who are unable to follow her movements- while she does have control over her speed-clones, Tsuruko usually moves so quickly that she creates speed-clones inadvertently whereas everyone else has to consciously create them- while normally, these speed-clones follow her every movement, but they lack substance; aside from, well, being completely azurite in texture, they are completely indistinguishable from Tsuruko herself the naked eye and simple sensory-type magic. The speed-clones are a result of Tsuruko moving so fast that it gives off the visage of her copying herself before smashing her poor opponent into submission. While the speed-clones are not illusionary, as thanks to Vanishing Drive, Tsuruko is moving at a speed between different positions that is faster than the speed of light, she is capable of directing them towards her enemies by controlling them with her fighting spirit; once this is done, they become semi-sentient, capable of actually damaging or defending against an enemy, allowing them to hold up enemies and create greater opportunities to launch their own attacks, causing feints of a sort to distract the opponent from Tsuruko herself. As such, were all three speed-clones to attack at once, it would mean that Tsuruko is attacking from all those positions simultaneously, giving her incredible destructive power. Similarly, because of this same speed, attacking the triad of speed-clones would be futile as Tsuruko would have moved long before the attack even reaches her; a common tactic for Tsuruko is to use one of her speed-clones to fool her opponents into thinking they have killed her in one blow, only to appear unharmed somewhere else and land a decisive blow; utilizing the sheer speed of Vanishing Drive in order to flank an enemy's side and defeat them effortlessly.
Diamond-esque Durability
Diamond-esque Durability: What finalizes Tsuruko being a force of nature in combat is the fact that she's damn near indestructible. Because of the unidentified completely invincible alloy she's composed off, Tsuruko's capable of withstanding high-power blows from extremely powerful beings such as Mr. E in his dragon form without taking a scratch or feeling any pain; first showcased in Dragon Drama. Because of her indestructible alloy, Tsuruko is largely immune to different forms and levels of lacerations, blunt force trauma, falls from great heights, explosions, the cold void of space, toxins and all known diseases in all three worlds. In addition, what she can't handle the Zero Effect does for her- as "phenomena intervention" also includes supernatural abilities and the like. She has been sent crashing through a wall and landing without a flinch or a minor injury, suffering no damage at all from a Wizard Saint-level foe's attacks, continuing to fight as if nothing happened, displaying an incredible amount of resilience. She can survive getting caught in the crossfire from all angles by heavy machinegun fire, and merely shrugs it off; and she can smash spires of Orichalcum with her fist without showing any sign of pain or injury.
It is also worth noting that, for nearly all the battles Tsuruko has endured, she has never been crippled, nor has she displayed any serious injuries. She can take a lot of major punishment in battle before she starts to wear down. Even after receiving major damage, Tsuruko displays a remarkably fast recovery rate from damage, allowing her to quickly re-enter a battle after just a few moments. In addition, Tsuruko is perfectly capable of breaking free from any sort of obstruction that threatens to bind and constrict her, preventing her from moving, making her all the more deadlier. Additionally, she can survive free-falls from relatively impressive heights, falling face-first from a high point in a fifty story building, merely shaking it off after landing. This level of durability is how she survived other forms of extensive punishment, such as falls from several stories like when she landed on a vehicle from six thousand feet with no discomfort- another thing to note is that during her fight with Devius in S3, after being sent crashing into the Moon due to his Nanorage attack, she returned with little to no damage from leaving and entering the Old World's atmosphere- only her clothes were burnt. It has been shown that, despite the dangers of holding ones breath in space, Tsuruko is able to do so with no negative effects on her body.
Regarding the Zero Effect, the power acts as an invisible force-field emanating within a few millimeters from her skin; thanks to its power of "phenomenon intervention", things such as Magic, Curses, and anything regarded as "supernatural" are met with the fate of vanishing into thin air—essentially, everything from the mystical side of superpowers is rendered null and void. They simply disappear in a flash of lilac; the particles that they were composed of scattering to the winds in an instant. Tsuruko can willfully utilize the Zero Effect to a greater degree to provide an additional defense against certain levels of physical and supernatural attacks for a considerably short period of time, but doing so can endanger her should the attempted feat prove inefficient for any reason. Tsuruko has been shown to survive the blast of nuclear warheads; and she can survive the impact of an exploding sun during her battle with Devius. But scaling back for a moment, it's relatively easy for somebody to break their hand by striking Tsuruko if they're not sufficiently prepared or strong enough—as demonstrated when Kaguya attempted to slap her for not taking study seriously, for which Tsuruko apologized for. Adding onto this, because of Tsuruko's indestructible frame, she is considered near impossible to properly harm.
Other Abilities
Low-Level Intelligence: Let it be stated clearly and bluntly; Tsuruko Sejren is not a smart woman. In fact, her younger sister Hikari Zanna, whom is around half her age and in the single digits during Daybreak, is far more intelligent than her. Part of this can be attributed to her loathing of studying- however, it isn't as if she isn't intelligent in other areas, just not book-smart. Tsuruko considers half marks on a test the highest score she's ever received- and even then the teacher adjusted it from eighteen, partly as an expression of his gratitude for Tsuruko saving his wife from a symbiote. In another display of dimwittedness, Tsuruko is shown to struggle with primary school-level math problems, and she has stated that she has problem with complicated words. In fact, it is heavily implied throughout the story that Tsuruko is borderline illiterate; hence why she often asks others to read things for her, though in many of those cases she is preoccupied with something else. However, it is shown that Tsuruko is smart in her own, unusual way; she's a lot more perceptive than her hyperactive, childlike behaviour suggests—she does very little without logical consideration, and in fact points out reasonable flaws in other people's arguments. In fact, a lot of people aren't really sure if Tsuruko is a "really smart person" or a "really dumb person". A compelling argument for the former is the fact that she has a superhumanly good judge of character most of the time—she's normally capable of seeing the inherent goodness in a majority of people, and she's able to see their "true selves" if they're putting up a façade or something along those lines.
Even so, in battle, Tsuruko appears to be able to determine the pattern of her opponent's battle methods and correctly deduce a proper counter to defeat her opponent's attacks. However, this smarts applies to certain subjects, i.e. the things that interest her; which isn't very much due to her narrowly defined interests. She has a great talent for analyzing and observing everything in her presence when in battle. While it is obvious that her intellect does not extend to her piss-poor knowledge of behaviour of other beings -either because she possesses horrible social skills or everyone around her needs to see a shrink- in regards to minor things such as little bits of trivia about the most random of subjects. Despite her supposed disregard for strategy of any kind in her battles and her self-admitted aversion to thinking during battle, being given the name "battle maniac" because of it, Tsuruko is a very insightful person, regularly showing more understanding of many a situation than anyone would ever expect from a person like her. One of the major reasons why Tsuruko is such a deadly foe is because she possesses a high amount of perception when it comes to training, despite loathing participating in training and becoming sick at the very thought about it. Tsuruko learns through her body; usually, she doesn't understand any explanations, so her tutors more often than not decide to force her to experience the technique she is meant to learn first-hand by smacking her around with it. This way of learning has proved extremely effective, to the point that she can learn even a master-levelled technique after being smacked across the head with it ten times.
Sejren Gene (セジュレン・遺伝子, Sejuren Idenshi): The Sejren Gene is a mysterious ability displayed by several members of the Sejren Family; it's described as a "bloodline awakening" not seen in any other family. It's noted to be a power that only manifests when a member of the family experiences an epiphany, reevaluating their life and coming to a conclusion of what exactly needs to be accomplished in order to overcome the turmoil in front of them. Doing so releases the body's natural limiters; granting them a physical prowess far above normal humans and even some other races, like great strength, speed, agility, accuracy and coordination. In consequence, despite the family's innate inability to harness magic, they are acknowledged as extremely powerful warriors, with many of them capable of overpowering strength-enhancing magic and outrunning speed-enhancing magic. However, the power seems to only awaken in a few members—but arises when the person experiences certain moments in their life that awakens it, and remains active for the rest of the user's life. It is speculated that the Sejren Gene plays some part in Tsuruko's power; though it cannot be confirmed due to her "genetic makeup".
Showstopper (現指令強再持ち場, Shōsutoppā lit. Current Directive Forceful Re-Routing): Showstopper is one of Tsuruko's "Five Moves of Doom" alongside Impact, Victorize Kick, Rocket Punch, and Vanishing Drive- these are the most powerful of her abilities, most, if not all of them, having been hewn from her nature as a Deus Machina and specified to Tsuruko's very nature as a close-combat warrior. Showstopper itself was derived from Tsuruko's love of video games- specifically that of 2D fighting games and various bugs that tournament-level players exploit in them. Showstopper, to put it simply, is an existence considered akin to that of 'move-cancelling' theory as seen in fighting games, which is defined as breaking out of a current animation or move by inputting another move that cancels the previous one. Move Cancelling is said to be impossible to achieve through human bodies as doing so would put enormous strain on a squishy body and possibly tear limbs and drain magical energy swiftly, but as Tsuruko herself is a highly-advanced war machine and runs on willpower alone, Showstopper becomes feature made possible through Tsuruko's ingenious interpretation of how her body works. With Showstopper active, all of Tsuruko's attacks have an 'insta-fire' effect that disregards the influence of nature and assorted things in order to launch her attacks instantly without any prior requirements or preparations, using her body's own kinetic energy in order to bring the required powers into the current plane of existence, and she is capable of aborting any maneuver process in progress, automatic or otherwise, in order to perform a more favourable maneuver as required during the flow of battle. For example, when Tsuruko is landing after completing a boosted jump, her Deus Machina frame will automatically deploy shock absorbers in her legs in order to brace for impact- but from a few seconds pre-impact to at least two seconds post-impact, the Tsuruko is essentially frozen and cannot move on account of keeping stability and preventing unnecessary wear and tear to her internal systems. But thanks to Showstopper, Tsuruko can override the brace for impact phase through mental command alone, and instead upon making contact with the ground, she can kick off for a front-flip followed by a quick sidestep to orient herself in another direction before finally harnessing the momentum to swerve in another direction before kicking off with another leap into the skies. In terms of how Showstopper affects her combat prowess, she can launch hundreds upon thousands of punches and kicks per second, eliminating any need to pull her fist back after a strike through mental commands, resulting in an unrelenting barrage of knuckles that rains down upon the enemy- however, in terms of her named techniques, she is capable of switching the technique used to another one in the blink of an eye, for example, she can use the "preparation sequence" for Divide Zero as the "preparation sequence" of Corkscrew Bullet without modifying anything visually. However, switching so hastily and launching never-ending strikes towards her opponent without rest can put a noticeable amount of strain on her body, and when using Showstopper to unleash all of her Limit Breaks in a row against Abyssion to finish the Guardian Fiend off, Tsuruko ran out of energy and became immobile, almost dying in the explosion of the underground if she hadn't been whisked away.
Ardor Levels
Tsuruko's fighting spirit manifesting.
Incomprehensible Willpower: Tsuruko Sejren is known to have an exceptionally large amount of burning spirit dwelling within her tiny frame- which is only fitting, as she is the daughter of one particularly spirited individual and...somebody who isn't too emotional, but the sheer energy that the former exudes is more than enough to counteract to such a thing. While the same definitely cannot be said in regards to applying herself to anything that doesn't involve punching bad guys in the face or playing video games, it is well-known that Tsuruko herself never gives up or surrenders in the heat of battle, constantly giving it her all no matter the odds. While it is impossible to properly quantify Ardor as it is not a particle, but rather, a transient power born from the soul, the amount of which varies depending on the user's emotions, it can be said that Tsuruko Sejren is unique in that she lives and breathes Ardor, and has a truly immeasurable amount swelling around within her- in fact, Tsuruko's own soul can be considered an Ardor version of the Dragon Factor, as she's so burningly passionate about things she's interested in that it makes her seem larger than life and in accordance, the amount of Ardor gain, while it's impossible to quantify fighting spirit, as stated above, is considered akin to a bottomless well; she derives all of her strength from her childhood dream to become a "superhero" and protect the innocent.
As hot-headed as she is in battle with a knack for charging into battle and leaving the thinking for later, this makes Tsuruko a perfect conduit for turning her burning passion into actual power, meaning that Tsuruko is capable of harnessing unbelievable amounts of Ardor by becoming encased in a blazing aura on several occasions when her sense of justice becomes particularly riled up. Unlike any others who can tap into their innate fighting spirit, Tsuruko's power actually works in accordance with her Ardor rather than just simply powering herself up, as Tsuruko's power relies on her strong emotions- her full potential reaches its peak by experiencing a surge of powerful emotions and using such personal conviction to drastically augment each and every one of her strikes; visually, this gives the appearance of purple flames spewing from her arms and legs in a phenomena known as Ardor Flame. Because of her immense fighting spirit, Tsuruko can equip Gaiki repeatedly and instantly after bypassing the time limit, but of course, she can maintain her Soul Armour for more than the sixty second time limit in the first place due to a combination of her immense willpower and the alloys her body is composed of which have a slight edge over Soul Metal. Her burning conviction has enabled Tsuruko to shrug off blows that would outright kill anyone lesser- indeed, no matter how many high-powered attacks she receives, Tsuruko will continue to stand over and over until victory has been achieved, leading many of her opponents to think of her as something completely inhuman.
Something that should be taken into consideration is that for some reason, Tsuruko's immeasurable amount of fighting spirit enables her to break the laws of the world which had been previously established- for example, just by talking with Sion Kenzaki during their skirmish in the earlier chapters of the story, Tsuruko set Sion on the path to regaining her memories of her past life, something that should be impossible due to Hellions consuming their host's souls and removing all attachments to the past- even stranger still, this resulted in Sion eventually gaining a Driver Belt and being able to use it. Tsuruko's fighting spirit seems to have an overall purifying effect on the demonic, and thanks to her passion, she is immune to any and all forms of illusions and hypnosis. Tsuruko's skill with using her fighting spirit allows her to pull off feats that could be considered breaking the laws of physics or absolutely ridiculous with just passion alone, such as making herself totally invulnerable with her Ardor Field and her fighting spirit, extending an Eternano Saber that she grabbed during her battle with Mr. E in S1 into an energy whip that extends up to ten miles long, and of course, freezing Abyssion in place through thought alone before smashing into the Guardian Fiend with a Victorize Kick. Tsuruko's Ardor texture is red.
Ardor Full Cowl (勇開放・闘気凱装, Arudā Furu Kauru lit. Bravery Release: Fighting Spirit Triumphant Armour): Ardor Full Cowl is a special ability that Charlotte Merquise first displays against Tsuruko in Daybreak S1's penultimate arc and it is later copied by Tsuruko; Ardor Full Cowl allows the user to shroud their entire body in fighting spirit, granting their physical parameters a large boost all across the board. Ardor Full Cowl is a technique which cannot be considered a magical spell nor an unassisted regular ability, but rather, an application of Ardor, a metaphysical concept that is not magical in origin or a supernatural energy per-se, but is actually the user's determination and resolve made manifest; granting them capabilities beyond normal and a "power" conveyed by positive reinforcement—that is, by belief, either from the fighter's own self-confidence and unstable emotions, or the power of their loved ones cheering them on, or some other ambient effect. Ardor Full Cowl is known to be a technique born through years of intense training done by Charlotte, which enabled her to gain control of her spirit and thus manipulate it into the current form. But in any case, Ardor Full Cowl is activated by the user surging their fighting spirit to its utmost limit, resulting in the release of energies of a colour most associated with them to scatter off of their frame, while a faint outline of that same colour manifests around their body- at this point, the user enables their burning spirit to course and flow throughout their body instead of allowing their Ardor to surge upwards like it would when their Ardor Aura is made manifest as an intimidation tactic. This results in the user's fighting spirit wrapping around their body in its entirety, taking the form of a dense shroud of wispy fighting spirit the texture of a colour closely associated with the user which constantly emits bubbles of energy resembling boiling liquid, granting them a relatively large amount of physical protection, and the activation grants the user superhuman strength, agility, and endurance beyond what they would normally have without activating the shroud, meaning that no matter what, the user of the technique receives a sufficient boost in power all across the board. The activation of Ardor Full Cowl also results in the user's bodily structure becoming reinforced by their willpower, as demonstrated when Charlotte's left arm was struck by Tsuruko's Rocket Punch, which can kill an undead dragon in a single hit- Charlotte's arm remained in place and fully functional. The user is capable of manipulating the fighting spirit shrouding their body to a certain extent as it is malleable, allowing the shroud to extend beyond the user's reach, allowing them to project the shroud outwards in the form of an aura that surrounds the extremity of their choice- this also has the side effect of bolstering the power of the user's strike as the user's fighting spirit and attack are working together as one. The shroud can also function as extra limbs of sorts by grabbing an enemy or interacting with anything in the environment that the user deems fitting, and it generally acts as an extension of their body that cannot be seen by anyone that cannot harness their inner fighting spirit.
Zero Effect
Tsuruko's zero particles.
Zero Effect (事象干渉, Zero Efuekto lit. Event Interference) is Tsuruko's sole ability—it's unique to her and her alone; albeit it is a byproduct of the Event Interference of the Reionyx. The Zero Effect is referred to as the "Power Beyond God" (以神力, Ishinryoku) by individuals such as Devius and Dzerve, the latter of whom accidentally created it. The Zero Effect first came into existence when the Catalyst Comet crashed upon the Old World- the comet's impact upon the world caused the spread of zero particles on the planet. Dzerve Sejren engineered the Zero Effect in order to use it to cure disease and natural disasters and installed it within her magnum opus, Deus Machina Number Three, but Klaus, her partner, reverse-engineered the zero particles to transform them into eternano and thus magic, granting him the ability to cast spells—his plan was to originally become a "god" and unite the world under his rule. However, Dzerve used the Philosopher's Stone –carved from the remains of the Catalyst Comet- to reset the world before he could do so, splitting the Old World into Earth Land, Edolas, and Aether. While the Zero Effect was thought to have vanished along with the previous world, it later resurfaced within Tsuruko- as a child, Tsuruko was suffering the incurable disease that Aigrette Tenjouin succumbed to, and in an effort to save her, Giselle converted her into Deus Machina Number Three from the blueprints that Dzerve had left behind. However, the Zero Effect did not awaken within Tsuruko until she had utilized her Deus Machina form for the first time within Daybreak—the activation also eliminated her magics; leaving her unable to use even the most basic of magic in any way, shape, or form.
In any case, the Zero Effect is an unfathomable power beyond any other, and it's stated to be a power born from the ability to hold true to one's convictions no matter what. Tsuruko, while initially not understanding the power, referred to it as her "Showtime Spirit" (ショータイム・スピリット, Shōtaimu Supiritto); something that Tsuruko considers to be among the most important things her father ever taught her. She originally believed that its power originated from her determination - something that actually isn't too far off, actually. The Zero Effect's power is to destroy supernatural phenomena; essentially enabling Tsuruko to negate anything supernatural such as Magic, Curses, and even to Dzerve's admittance, the power of an Exalt. More specifically, it is a power that can only exist within Tsuruko Sejren's soul due to her being the only person who can harness the zero particles. Neither magic or anything supernatural in the current universe, the Zero Effect is speculated to be of extraterrestrial origin, with only a few people such as Dzerve and Klaus knowing fully of what it entails. It is noted that the Zero Effect is the collection of the hope and the fear of mankind; it is the reference point or template to the original world. Its destruction of magic returns the world back to normal before the magic occurred. As such, the Zero Effect embodies the hopes of those who can act all they want without fear of losing the original world, and is the fear of magicians because it removes the distortion they have created. It acts as a lifeline that allows the world to be reverted to how it was before the Philosopher's Stone split it into three, no matter how far it has been distorted in any direction.
In her message to Tsuruko, Dzerve stated the Zero Effect "... ain't good, but it ain't evil either." In practice, the Zero Effect enables her to resist and override supernatural phenomena by sheer force of will, imposing her own willpower upon on the world- essentially; it is the ultimate manifestation of her unwillingness to give up no matter what. This comes in handy for say, surviving being impaled by a weapon explicitly designed to destroy things dealing with the supernatural. Numerous people comment that the Zero Effect doesn't make any logical sense—as it defies any explanation and the laws of the universe. Indeed, chronologically, the first activation of the Zero Effect was against Kirika Hotsuin in Showtime, where Tsuruko activated it unconsciously—the Zero Effect, paired with her Soul Armour, Gaiki, were more than enough to send Kirika packing; however, the stress of activating it sent her into a coma for a week. Originally, even after awakening it, Tsuruko had no control over the Zero Effect and couldn't activate it- however, during the Dracolich's attack on Luin during the Esper Excellen Part II arc, she utilized consciously it for the first time, erasing a dragon's roar attack from existence. The Zero Effect activating it signified by a glittering purple glow emanating from Tsuruko's figure- this is an "aura" of lilac that is mainly focused upon her arms and legs—indeed, it only works if it comes into contact with her limbs, so if a power hits somewhere besides her limbs, then it has the possibility of causing harm to her. Essentially, in order to negate something, Tsuruko has to come into contact with it. This function has come in handy when fighting teleportation users or armament-type magics—Tsuruko is capable of grabbing them mid-movement, rendering them vulnerable to her next attacks.
Tsuruko Sejren as Soul Armour Knight Gaiki Shin using the Zero Effect for her Shining Sword Breaker attack.
It should also be taken into consideration that the purple energy that the Zero Effect takes the form of is completely malleable, when one's willpower is used to manipulate its structure, it can be utilized either in an energy-like state or moldable solid that resembles crystal or glass, that will eventually dissipate or seemingly shatter. Due to the high amount of strength and energy it possesses as well as it's tendency to be sharply shaped when conjured, it can be used as a dramatically impressive weapon, defense, or even energy blasts; essentially as a form of energy that can be utilized similar to the elemental magics- though its natural properties makes it far more effective than anything of the sort. While powerful, Tsuruko rarely utilizes these properties as she finds it far more effective to get up-close and personal with her opponents, though she occasionally uses this aspect of the Zero Effect in order to launch close-range energy blasts that overwhelm the opponent and negate their spells. Another use of this power is to send the purple energy through the ground, allowing it to erupt as spikes of energy for defense and offense—essentially, Tsuruko is capable of sending the Zero Effect through land, sea, sky, and space- as long as she can reach it, the Zero Effect can be utilized there.
Tsuruko, as Soul Armour Knight Gaiki Shin, sending the Zero Effect through the ground.
However, for all of its law-defying power, the Zero Effect does have quite a few weaknesses. For example, despite of the extents of Tsuruko's abilities, she does not have the ability to negate all "artificial" supernatural abilities, such as the Power of the World and the Dragon's Veins. Some objects, such as the Archangels summoned by Elsie Albion and the Enderdragon require Tsuruko to target the core or some other important piece that provides power to them in order for the Zero Effect to effectively negate them. In addition, the Zero Effect also negates Tsuruko's luck- this is the reason why she gets into so much trouble in the first place- and it causes her to be classified as a non-magician because her power can't be detected by normal means, and is hardly useful in mundane situations, either; hence why she developed the Strength Control "technique". Even more unfortunately, the Zero Effect negates any and all supernatural phenomena, as stated above, so it naturally effects even helpful phenomena, such as a Healing Magic, and Telepathy cannot reach her unless it's done by a Magius such as Giselle—and in this case, it's considered akin to hacking Tsuruko's audio receptors instead of true telepathy. Lastly, it's impossible to use teleportation magic upon her, thus denying her the chance to be teleported to safety.
So far there are only a few attacks which can "surpass" the Zero Effect's power negation speed; as such Tsuruko is unable to completely destroy them despite continued exposure to the Zero Effect. A good example of this is Amadam's Saint Oratario spell; which is an enormous beam of energy that is held for around ten full seconds—Tsuruko would be capable of nullifying the attack for at least five of those seconds, but eventually the sweltering heat emitted as a byproduct of the spell would overwhelm her and knock her back. However, Camilla's All-Dimensions Sever spell is a different case, as it does not fall under the 'surpassing cancelling speed' category, but 'After this window of opportunity it can't be negated' category- as after a few moments, the phenomena that the spell is becomes a part of nature and is no longer considered a supernatural phenomena within half a second. However, she later on learns that even though the Zero Effect cannot instantly negate very powerful attacks, then this means Tsuruko can use her hands to catch very powerful attacks and throw them back at the opponent; essentially taking advantage of a weakness. This is best shown during the final fight of Dawn –Tsuruko vs. Chakravartin -, where Tsuruko yanked one of Chakravartin's exalt wings to throw the Exalt of Edolas off-balance; the single touch negated her kinetic and magical energy absorption as well. Chakravartin's Infinity Effect is touted to be the complete opposite of Tsuruko's Zero Effect - indeed, the powers of "zero" and "infinity" were originally one form, and it is said that when the wielders of zero and infinity come together, the creator will be awakened in all of its glory once more.
Divide Zero (事象干渉波動弾, Dibaido Zero lit. Event Interference Wave-Motion Bullet): Divide Zero is one of the most basic applications of the Zero Effect; however, despite how simple it is, Divide Zero does not see much usage aside from the occasional sucker-shot in close-range due to Tsuruko's distaste towards ranged combat- as one might have guessed, Divide Zero is a projectile-type technique, specifically that of a medium-sized spiralling sphere that resembles a glowing meteoroid. When performing Divide Zero, Tsuruko focuses intently- bringing her Zero Effect to the forefront, she shapes it into a tangible form- a glistening purple aura from which the zero particles scatter like feathers molting from the wingspan of an avian. Tsuruko then cocks the top part of one of her fists back, revealing the blaster barrel which is concealed in the front of Tsuruko's arms, aligned between the knuckles of Tsuruko's index and middle fingers. Activating her Zero Effect, Tsuruko then manually molds the masses of lilac by focusing the zero particles into the barrel to serve the function of a fuel of sorts, loading a crimson magazine clip from the chambers attached to both of her arms. Doing so results in the generation of a kinetic pulse of zero particles which is molded into the form of a glowing meteoroid that has starry traits through Tsuruko's thoughts alone, though she is known for (occasionally) crushing it with her hands rather crudely until she gets the desired shape. Once the "Divide Zero" pulse projectile has been made manifest in the physical realm, Tsuruko can use this technique in several different manners - for one, she is capable of launching them instantly in accordance with her punches and kicks at rapid speeds, resulting in a seeming unending barrage of miniature meteors blossoming forth from the barrels attached to her fists which are flung at the opponent. However, upon generation, the meteoroid ball can be expelled outwards before Tsuruko's body, simply levitating slightly above the ground, remaining in place- if the opponent happens to make contact with the sphere, it will strike up to four times as it whirls around rapidly. Tsuruko can also send the Divide Zero through the ground to serve the purpose of a mine of sorts; when the foe steps upon the Divide Zero sphere which now takes the form of a barely-noticeable glyph, it unleashes a powerful explosion that can upturn the ground and crush everything in its path with the added effect of stunning the opponent, as well as knock them into the air; however, Tsuruko can cancel the detonation if she so wishes, but if left to its own devices, it will explode automatically after twenty-six and-a-half seconds. Tsuruko can use a variant of this by punching towards the ground, resulting in the Divide Zero expanding into an omnidirectional blast that surrounds her like a wall of pure zero particles, defending her from multiple attacks at once while knocking them back. No matter the form that Divide Zero takes, the meteoroid sphere can blast through anything in her general direction, with the zero particles negating any form of supernatural defense while the kinetic energy released by the pulses rend solid obstructions asunder- it has been shown that getting struck head-on by one of these "fist beams" can result in any enemy being thrown back instantly while stunning the opponent momentarily, which makes them a good distraction-type technique as Tsuruko can instantly close the distance in those precious few seconds that the foe is immobilized; it can strike multiple enemies and even two adjacent foes simultaneously while its mere presence covers any exposed darkness in light; violently pushing the intended opponent and objects around them away from Tsuruko with overwhelming blunt force. A fully-charged Divide Zero is effective at dealing enormous amounts of damage, and is good for racking up damage at range, useful in combos, and can be used as a option to wall off opponent's approaches, albeit being less effective than other projectiles. As Divide Zero travels towards its opponent, the effect of the Zero Effect ensures that even the people and object outside the attack are affected, incapable to act as the sphere creates a positively enormous EMP-esque effect which can stop the heart-beat of living beings, disable all Magitek within the area, and even eradicate any magic within the vicinity. Interestingly, the Divide Zero is shown to have two settings—a version that emits a higher-velocity sphere with enough momentum to breach defenses; but the damage dealt to the target without penetrating a defense is significantly reduced due to its lower power transfer; it will pursue the enemy and surely hit; the other version is akin to a classic sphere attack: this variation has less velocity and, while less penetrating, quickly transfers the Zero Effect to the target upon impact, reverting back to zero particles and attacking the target from within; though naturally, this version does not work upon humans. The Divide Zero can be charged, and while doing so, any other fighter who touches the sphere takes a small amount of damage. Tsuruko can also continue to hold the sphere after it is fully charged, allowing it to take advantage of its damage dealing ability, or store it for later use. The sphere charges relatively fast, around one point five seconds. When fully charged, Divide Zero travels in a straight line but when fired without charging flies in an up-and-down wave motion. If she deems it suitable, Tsuruko is capable of using the recoil which is a byproduct of shooting these pulses of zero particles in order to augment the force of her punches and accelerate her already law-defying movements even further.
Zero Burst (事象干渉・逆転, Zero Bāsuto lit. Event Interference Reversal): Zero Burst is a constantly activated technique of the Zero Effect; it is completely passive in nature. In any case, Zero Burst works when Tsuruko takes a hit from either a physical or supernatural source—the kinetic energy of the strike is then negated by the Zero Effect and absorbed into Tsuruko's body within seconds, allowing her to take part of the damage that she receives from her enemy's onslaughts and transmogrify it into kinetic energy, accumulating it into her body and boosting her physical parameters and fighting spirit by a rather frightening amount, effectively allowing her absorb energy from the damage she's taken, and redirect it at her opponent, effectively making her stronger with each hit. . The efficiency of this conversion of the enemy's attack into physical power raises the more damage that Tsuruko takes, and it can easily be seen by that the end of the battle, Tsuruko's strength would have become ten times as powerful, if not more; as the combat becomes more intense Tsuruko becomes faster and stronger due to Zero Burst. If Tsuruko is damaged to the point of being on the verge of death, possibly an enormous amount of power enough to destroy everything before her eyes will be saved up; essentially, she can win by reversal. It is notable that she was able to knock Nidhoggr the Black Dragon out following just two hits from the dragon and appeared to be uninjured after the fight itself. Interestingly, Tsuruko can use the Zero Burst to join with allies and allow them to amplify their energy while the Zero Burst suppresses the backfire so it doesn't damage their bodies. However, Tsuruko can still feel pain and get injured as Zero Burst doesn't completely neutralize the damage she takes, so while she can stomach regularly powerful blows, if the enemy attempts a crushing blow, it will simply prove that Zero Burst's effectiveness is relative to Tsuruko's own durability, meaning that she isn't invincible. The weak points of the Zero Burst are the force exerted upon Tsuruko body during the process, and the amount of time it takes for her to charge the energy- however the biggest drawback is that she must be careful when using it, as the amount of destructive power it unleashes cannot be held back, and thereby may damage the surroundings. It is a move that proves highly impractical in terms of energy efficiency, as after one battle, Tsuruko was left in an exhausted state, literally having "depleted" her available energy; at least until she became accustomed to the technique's functionality, allowing her to perfect its use.
Zero Hexa Conversion (事象干渉・逆転・全開, Zero Hekisa Konbājon lit. Event Interference Reversal: Full Throttle): The Zero Hexa Conversion is an upgraded version of Tsuruko's Zero Burst, only shown in the final chapters of Daybreak S3; it is utilized by all of the Tsuruko Faction. When initiating the Zero Hexa Conversion, Tsuruko focuses intently, using the Zero Burst to gather energy from the enemy's blow, with Kirika Hotsuin using the Knight Power of her Soul Armour, Airgetlam to control it and distribute it among all of them. In this case, Tsuruko had absorbed the energy of Signa's Spacetime Convergence Cannon, the energy output of which is equal to that of twenty four billion Soul Armours, aka if everyone in all three dimensions were a knight; while Tsuruko absorbs the energy, Kirika distributed it with her Knight Power, resulting in a truly stupendous upsurge of energy, enabling all of them to access their Super Modes all at once, and in the case of the New Generation Soul Armour users, create new Super Modes from scratch.
Zero Sight (事象干渉・前兆の感知, Zero Saito lit. Event Interference: Sense of Foreboding): Zero Sight is yet another passive and constantly activated ability of the Zero Effect; unusually, it can both be classified as a part of the power and something else entirely. The Zero Sight manifested part-way through Daybreak S2, borne from Tsuruko getting into so many scuffles that she began to subconsciously anticipate the attacks coming her way, which, when combined with her incredible reflexes, toughness, and fighting spirit which keeps her constantly moving in the heat of battle, enables her to judge accurately what to do next. Minute changes in the vicinity, like a lightning user expanding their electromagnetic field in order to make metallic items around them resonate, something that they cannot even detect aid Tsuruko in her judgment on how to use her Zero Effect to nullify the next strike. The Zero Sight functions similarly to a heightened sense of perception or an instinct, sometimes referred to as Clairvoyance or Mind's Eye, though it functions differently to that of both of those as the Zero Sight is centered around Tsuruko the little details that lead up to something happening. Tsuruko is able to use it to the fullest potential, using the aftermath as a basis, and then change tactics to fight according to the situation. Moreover, it is noted that if she actively tries to take note of these things, such as the information that she subconsciously takes in and react to, then the Zero Sight is more likely to fail. Even so, Zero Sight can be negated by restricting the information shown to Tsuruko; this is shown best against Signa, whose massive dragon armour has a frozen expression that does not blink or breathe, and only moves even slightly voluntarily, meaning that Tsuruko cannot read its movements.
Elemenian Spirit Magic
Elemenian Spirit Magic (元素現幻獣召喚魔法, Eremenian Supiritto Majikku lit. Elemental Embodiment Phantom Beast Summoning Magic) is a Caster Magic that enables the user to call upon the power of Elemenians, a race consisting of spirits that are embodiments of elemental energies within the heat of battle. As described above, Elemenian Spirit Magic allows the user to call upon the power of Elemenians. It is regarded as the "Strongest Summoning Magic" (最強の召喚魔法, Saikyō no Shōkan Mahō) due to the sheer power of the summoned beasts involved; they could be referred to as forces of nature rather than spirits themselves- and to be fair, that comparison isn't too far off. Whenever a magician calls forth an Elemenian, all they need to do is focus and shout the name of the summoned beast, causing it to come into existence as long as there is enough of their element in the immediate vicinity to use as a medium for their manifestation. During the summoning of an Elemenian, a glyph briefly appears on the ground or in the air and the Elemenian emerges through it. The glyphs are circular geometric patterns that are also seen in Tsuruko Sejren's Deus Machina blueprints- each Elemenian has a unique one.
A user is capable of manifesting an Elemenian by offering up a portion of the magic contained within their Magic Origin, forming a temporary contract that allows the Elemenian to fight alongside the caster if they so desire in a process referred to as Spirit Channeling (精霊術, Seireijutsu). Unlike other types of spirit summoning magic, where a spirit is under the control of the caster as long as they possess a physical contract such as a key or card, Elemenians generally have no loyalty and will assist anyone who makes a deal with them, even if they were an enemy beforehand- though there are a few exceptions to this rule. Depending on how much magical energy that the user gives the Elemenian, the cryptid attacks and then leaves, or it will stay and continue to attack until defeated or its time runs out.
The strength of the Elemenians is not affected by the magical strength of their summoner unlike other summon spirits- they are all consistently powerful. The Elemenians, like regular mages, have powerful magic. The magical levels of the Elemenians are charged by giving and taking damage in battle, or avoiding an attack. After the respective Elemenian's magic is launched, the magic levels returns to the state it was in prior to the summon, meaning if the level was full before the spirit was summoned, the spirit can launch two spells in a row. When a spirit is defeated the level is reset to zero. Elemenians also have different categories of sorts, which fall under the basic summoning conditions from their owner. In the case of Tsuruko Sejren, who, as a Deus Machina, can only use primitive magic, such as Event Interference, she cannot use Elemenian Spirit Magic in the traditional way, but because the High Elemenian of Light, Eltanin, died for her sake in her previous life to become an Elemenian, Eltanin and Tsuruko have a powerful bond that results in Eltanin permanently contracting with Tsuruko.
Eltanin
The High Elemenian of Light, Eltanin.
High Elemenian of Light: Eltanin (荒れ光の大元素現幻獣・エルタニン, Hai Eremenian ofu Raito: Erutanin lit. Greater Elemental Embodiment Phantom Beast of the Berserk Light): The High Elemenian of Light, Eltanin, is one of the High Elemenians (大元素現幻獣, Hai Eremenian lit. Greater Elemental Embodiment Phantom Beast); who are the 'top dogs' of the Elemenians- they are the most powerful physical embodiments of the Seven Fundamental Elements, Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Light, Darkness, and the seventh, Creation. While the first six are traditional elements, the seventh is not an element per-se, but rather, the force that allows the other elements to exist- more a force of nature than element. The High Elemenians govern over the other elements and are considered the representatives of the Elemenian race. The High Elemenians are noted to be the strongest of their race, with all of them possibly as strong as the Celestial Spirit King, if not even stronger, though this cannot be proven as Celestial Spirits, like many canon elements, do not appear within Daybreak. Eltanin was originally Rosa Dimaggio, Tsuruko Sejren's best friend and one of the Two Dragon Kings, Berserk Light Dragon, Indra (荒れ光竜・インドラ, Arekōryū Indora). During Daybreak S2, when Mr. E tracks Tsuruko down in an attempt to "free" Rosa from her "influence", Rosa uses herself as a human shield for his Tyrant Breaker in her dragon form, getting a hole torn through her body and dying in Tsuruko's arms. Holding Rosa's body in her arms, Tsuruko shouted her name in anguish. However, in those last moments, Rosa truly did become stronger than ever, as she ascended to become Eltanin.
Rosa, as Eltanin, still takes upon the form of a dragon, her true appearance, though unlike the slim form of Indra, Eltanin is quite a bit more will-built. Eltanin is relatively muscled, and the dragon is mainly silver with azure gems in numerous places. Eltanin also has six sets of wings, and the dragon's head is mainly shaped like a fleur-de-lis with a blue jewel in the middle. Eltanin's body parts are referred to as the blade-like tail, Drag Tail (ドラグ・テイル, Doragu Teiru), armoured abdomen Drag Body (ドラグ・ボディー, Doragu Bodī) and her mouth, the Drag Jaw (ドラグ・ジョー, Doragu Jō), all of which Tsuruko is capable of manifesting on her lonesome to enhance her attacks. Unlike other Elemenians, Eltanin holds a permanent contract with Tsuruko of her own choosing, due to their close bond, and as such, Eltanin often comes to Tsuruko's aid without being summoned and responding to emotions of distress and anger, taking a more supportive role by lending her power to Tsuruko. As Eltanin, Rosa's personality is very much the same, being a sisterly figure to Tsuruko and always assissting her friend whenever she can without any hesitation. She also, as usual, is extremely sarcastic and snarky, but possesses an iron will, refusing to go down without a fight. This is shown when Altrouge temporarily absorbs Eltanin with Take Over: Spirit Soul to form Spirit Soul: Elemenian Spirit Eltanin, Eltanin is capable of resisting, seizing up Altrouge's movements to keep Altrouge still enough for Tsuruko to tear Eltanin out of Altrouge's Magic Origin with her Zero Effect; a feat that no other spirit has been capable of doing.
Powers and Abilities
White Dragon Slayer Magic (白の滅竜魔法, Haku no Metsuryū Mahō): White Dragon Slayer Magic is a Caster Magic, Lost Magic, and a type of Dragon Slayer Magic that utilizes light; Eltanin, as Rosa, is said to be the strongest Light Dragon to ever exist. White Dragon Slayer Magic allows Rosa to transform the physiology of her body into that of a White Dragon. Consequently, this Magic allows her to both produce and control light from any part of her body, which can be used in both close and ranged combat. Rosa's White Dragon Slayer fighting style allows her to use White Dragon Slayer magic to change her own body into light, in both offensive and defensive style. Rosa is able to utilize light-based attacks that range from shooting laser beams from her hands, fingers, or feet (capable of causing massive explosions), all of them being very devastating. The composition of the light seems to shift from hard (for offensive techniques and several defensive techniques) to it's regular form (for mobility and most defensive techniques) on a whim. However, because they are light, Rosa's offensive attacks can only travel in straight lines, though in most instances, they are able to be rebounded off surfaces to shoot around corners.
However, while it does possess high offensive power, the main use for White Dragon Slayer Magic in Rosa's case is that it is mainly used as a supplementary magic of sorts; it is called the "Light of Purification"; meaning that most of the time, the light that Rosa generates is capable of healing and boosting the powers of her allies—focusing mainly on recovery and support, meaning that Rosa serves as a White Mage (白魔道士, Shiromadōshi, White Magic Adherent) of sorts. Rosa focuses far more on using her White Dragon Slayer Magic than she does its offensive counterpart; meaning that she is quite possibly one of the best healers around. The healing power granted by it is extremely high, having been described as capable of healing wounds inflicted by a real Dragon. Concretely, it was enough to almost completely cure most injuries it was used on so far, and to nullify the effects of powerful poisons, and is capable of restoring the body internally and externally including a patient's fatigue and body stress, something made more formidable by the fact that healing Magic is long-lost, and believed to be nonexistent anymore. In addition to healing, White Dragon Slayer Magic can also grant support in battle, by boosting allies’ physical prowess.
As the most powerful White Dragon Slayer to exist, Rosa has domination over the element of light, allowing her to take an opponent's light-based attack and turn it on them, essentially making it her own; Rosa controls all of the light in the area and she can manipulate it to her will. Additionally, she can employ her healing upon herself, something thought impossible until now; however, it is not as effective as it would be on others. As well as the added benefits of her elemental advantage, the Dragon Slayer magic gives Rosa a much greater level of endurance. Rosa is endowed with a much more powerful sense of smell than that of a human. Another Dragon Slayer trait is the ability to roar extremely loud like a dragon. Rosa can consume light, with the exception of the light she has created, to replenish her energy reserves (though she is naturally insusceptible to the light that she created as well as those coming from other sources). In addition, with this ability, Rosa can defy gravity to eliminate her own weight, making her even more mobile and harder to hit. Rosa's White Dragon Slayer Magic has been described as the Unmovable Shield; due to its high defensive and healing properties, as .a counter to Tyrant Dragon Vritra's Solar Dragon Slayer Magic which is known as the Unstoppable Spear.
White Dragon's Roar (白竜の咆哮, Hakuryū no Hōkō): White Dragon Slayer Magic is a White Dragon Slayer Magic Spell; it is the White Dragon Slayer's exclusive Dragon's Roar, incorporating the element of light. Rosa first inhales, gathering light within her mouth; adding her own magical power into the mixture to serve as a propellant to the light; charging it up for a few moments. Once the charging phase has been completed, Rosa unleashes a mighty roar which is released forward in the form of a powerful laser, which barrels down and pierces through the opponent. Rosa is able to fire the attack very quickly, while maintaining precise aim. 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; 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 the White Dragon's Roar is vast and its attack power is positively enormous; this is because the thin beam contains all the power of the light compressed. The trajectory of the laser can be altered, allowing Rosa to strike more than one opponent. When it impacts upon the foe's body, it explodes violently, releasing an immense amount of light bright enough to blind the foe and also inflict tremendous damage. After, through unknown means, devouring a suitcase that was thrown by Kaguya Kobayashi at her during their first meeting, Rosa was shown using a different Dragon's Roar, this one consisting of a powerful, larger whirlwind which pierced through several buildings with ease, leaving a clean, round hole in each of them.
Pixie Circle (白竜の波浪 (ピクシー・サークル), Pikushī Sākuru lit. White Dragon's Surge): Pixie Circle is the first healing spell for Rosa; upon activation, a small circular glyph of light appears underneath the targeted character, with a leaf motif in the design. As the circle is drawn, the light rises up, appearing as a thin wall, healing the target. It is Rosa's fastest healing spell with the lowest magical cost. Unlike other area-based healing spells, where the area of effect is determined once the spell incantation is complete, Pixie Circle's area of effect follows the character it is cast upon. This allows it to be used in situations where the target may be moving; however, the amount of health recovered and its initial area of effect are extremely small, requiring characters to be practically touching for it to take effect; however, it can expand exponentially. Once the glyph has formed when it expands, spheres of light rise up, purifying all allies excluding those that are away from the glyph by completely restoring their magical energy and stamina and curing them of any status ailments before finally granting them a stat boost. While allies are being cured and boosted, the circle also flashes with holy energy of the element of light, damaging every single enemy on the field, unless said enemy is unaffected by light magic. It can be used to recover a substantial amount of magical energy and health for herself at minimal cost and time. In addition, it also boosts their defensive power. It grants a tremendous boost in power all around the board; the targets receive an enormous augmentation; enough to buff them up to at least SS-Class level magicians, who are capable of throwing down with the best of them; aside from bolstering their speed, increases the chances of landing a critical hit. It also enhances their offensive power for a certain period of time. It triples the next physical attack's strength. Multi-hit attacks only increase the power of the first strike. If an attack is physical but relies on a set factor, it still increases in power; increasing their physical and magical defenses by halving all damage done to them, including offensive and curative spells, as well as physical attacks, including attacks unleashed armed, and those unarmed. The effect can stack, but repeated use on the same character increases the chance that the White Dragon's Surge spell misses. While more often than not utilized on her allies, Rosa is capable of casting it upon herself in order to turn herself into a fast-moving whirling dervish of destruction.
White Dragon's Seal Wall (白竜の封壁, Hakuryū no Fūheki): A powerful supplementary spelling dealing in stalling the opponent; when casting White Dragon's Seal Wall, Rosa gathers light within her hands, before touching the ground—this sends the light into the ground, as it tracks the opponents down and forms circles of light beneath their feet momentarily—locking on to her foes, Rosa snaps her fingers, causing the light beneath the ground to erupt in an enormous veil of gold that reaches the sky; constricting and whirling around the foe as to trap them in the light. The spell is designed to slow her opponent down and make it difficult to inflict damage or even to attack. Just utilizing White Dragon's Seal Wall not a way to win by itself; it is usually used as a means to an end; and due to her several other healing spells and offensive attacks, Rosa will definitely benefit from this strategy; being able to protect herself from both attacks and damage. The power of White Dragon's Seal Wall can stop attacks for a few minutes, to locking her opponent down as long as they are on the field—however, it takes a fair while to regain the magical energy drained from this spell, and Rosa could possibly only utilize it four-five times before she had exhausted herself from her magical power.
White Dragon's Heal Wind (白竜の癒し風, Hakuryū no Iyashifū): Yet another healing spell; Rosa finds the calm within the battle while light flows down from the heavens, as the light transfigures into life energy, which flows into an open wound upon the target. This life energy flows into her system to purge it of all wounds; but the time of healing varies from person to person—and even the severity of the target's wounds. With this, Rosa settles her mind, receiving a blessing from above. It grants Rosa the ability to automatically revive from being knocked as long as the status in effect. However, she can use it on others than herself; as she can use it to revive an ally from being knocked out with their health and stamina revitalized. Once upgraded enough, it becomes one of Rosa's most useful spells; it is one of the most effective but costly ways to revive her allies. When used, a giant glyph appears under the entire area, healing all allies significantly at a fixed rate. This is one of the most effective healing spells to exist, but because of this, the casting time and amount of magical energy used to utilize it are very high to prevent its constant use. It should be noted that White Dragon's Healing Wind restores magical energy and vitality to Rosa equivalent to half of her own magical power, making it an extremely useful and potent healing spell.
White Dragon's Descent (白竜の降臨, Hakuryū no Kōrin): Rosa's most powerful spell; when preparing White Dragon's Descent, she flies into the air—high into the clouds as she gathers and converges stray sources of light upon her body, utilizing the air pressure generated by her ascent to gather more and more magical energy. Once this is done, she unleashes a powerful roar, releasing a large sphere, from which a number of shiny rays are fired towards the targets, leaving their starting point in a curved trajectory to strike them. Foes are thus bombarded by a barrage of beams which cause heavy damage upon them, striking them in rapid succession, before they converge as the user punches forward at the same time, unleashing a very massive, horizontal column of light enveloping her mouth and a remarkable distance behind it. This move creates a large, impressive explosion on contact, which leaves her unharmed, but is lethal to the target, essentially reducing them to atoms at it's strongest point. Once this is done, weakening the target, Rosa descends downwards, snatching the foe up before flying into the sky once more—whirling around the skies as if she were traversing the world, before descending at a horrifying velocity, utilizing the momentum of the dive to toss the foe into the ground for overwhelming damage. This is, without a doubt, one of the strongest attacks to exist for a Dragon Slayer.
Invisibility: As an Elemenian Spirit, Eltanin can only be seen by Tsuruko due to their contract; though she can also be seen by people with fighting spirit, though her old friend Mr. E can see her. Others cannot see or hear her, which often leads them to think Tsuruko is talking alone. However, Eltanin can be seen through photographs, although she only appears as a golden cloud of energy.
Shared Techniques
Armatization (元素現幻獣力・一心同体, Arumatizēshon lit. Elemental Embodiment Phantom Beast Power: Two Hearts Beating as One): Armatization is the only standalone spell that a magician can harness when contracted with an Elemenian. Due to the user temporarily holding a contract with them, the sprit has a special "magic link" with the user. By synchronizing their magical power frequency with that of the spirit's when the two are in close proximity, with or without the spirit's approval, the user can perform this spell; which merges the magician and the spirit, integrating the spirit within their body. This integrates the Elemenian into the user's Magic Origin for a short amount of time, granting them abilities such as increased speed and strength, as well as being able to use the spirit's magic. However, in order for Armatization to work properly, the user and their contracted spirit must be in a state of almost perfect synchronization, which would enable the spirit to enter their Magic Origin and utilize their own powers to augment the magician's via sending their own collected magical energy into their body, boosting their powers to the point that they could outfight almost any other normal magician; in addition to being capable of utilizing the fused spirit's strength, the user is also granted access to vastly more powerful spells of their own and a few other powers which relate to the fused spirit. However, utilizing Armatization is a terrifying and exhilarating experience; keeping the spirit's energy in check is fairly difficult, as the user is aware that it can and will explode within them if they make even the slightest mistake. After the process of Armatization ends, the user will experience an enormous drain in their magical power and stamina—the reason for this is that most of their power is used to remain in complete control of the harnessed power; there are no exceptions to this rule. In addition, incorrectly absorbing the spirit's energy can have severe consequences; it's known that some magicians have been bedridden for weeks afterwards if they make a mistake. Armatization is a unique spell in that it is downloaded automatically into a spirit channeller's mind the moment they contract with an Elemenian, an effect similar to that of a spell being installed within a magician's mind with Archive. After their first fusion with an Elemenian, the magician will more often than not remember the spell for the subsequent times, enabling an easier activation later on. Normally, a magician who fuses with an Elemenian can remain combined for thirty minutes, but if they fuse with a High Elemenian, that time is cut in half, as a High Elemenian requires double the magical power from the magician in order to agree to contract with them. In addition, once Armatization has finished, when fused with a High Elemenian, the magician will be left unable to fight any longer because of the greater cost. Instead of traditional Armatization, Tsuruko, as Gaiki, can merge with Eltanin to form Gaiki Dragon Formation, which is a merger of their souls, leaving Tsuruko with most of the body's control; in this form, Gaiki's Limit Break is the Dragorize Kick, a souped-up version of the regular Victorize Kick.
Break Ride (飛翔態, Bureiku Raido lit. Flight Style): Additionally, Armatization has a secondary special ability known as Break Ride; which is a special ability that forcibly coverts the Elemenian into a form that the magician can ride; more often than not a vehicle. Break Ride is activated by the magician surging their magical aura, allowing it to encompass the Elemenian and transform their body into a vehicular form, shifting the focus of the summon from sheer offensive power to insurmountable speed; capable of moving several times faster than the speed of sound at the very least. The form that each Elemenian's Break Ride takes upon varies wildly, with Darkmera, the High Elemenian of Darkness, transforming into a jet, and Flamvell, the High Elemenian of Fire, becoming a motorcycle. However, some Elemenians, such as Zephyros, the Lesser Elemenian of Wind, who simply allows the contractor to ride on his back, and Eltanin, the High Elemenian of Light, who does the same, do not change form. Generally, each Elemenian's Break Ride mode has a concept that defines their actions in battle. Break Ride's duration is determined by how much magical power both the Elemenian and the magician have stored within their Magic Origins when the spell is initiated, and each attack subtracts a certain number of Edeas from the Magic Origins of both beings; meaning that it is slightly more draining than the normal Armatization. Eltanin often allows Tsuruko to ride on her back in order to get to place to place in a hurry.
Soul Armour
Soul Armours (神鎧, 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, 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 supernatural equipment, the knights carry an eternal war to maintain the light over the darkness in the realm. When transforming into Gaiki, Tsuruko slips the Victory Ring upon her finger, and scans the ring over the Phoenix Driver; causing the belt to expand around her waist like a deck of cards wrapping around. When this is done, Tsuruko throws her right arm at a diagonal to her right then rotates it clock-wise until it is a diagonal to her left, then she retracts it to her waist and thrusts out her left arm at a diagonal to her right. With this, the Phoenix Driver releases a glyph of pure power before her, blasting any opponents in close vicinity away as the woman's speed picks up- running through the series of cards, as she leaves the projections, everything about her changes completely. She becomes Soul Armour Knight Gaiki (神鎧纏最高戦士 ・凱輝, Sōru Āmā Naito Gaiki lit. God Armour Clad Supreme Warrior Shining Victory). In Daybreak S3, Tsuruko now uses Soul Armour Knight Gaiki Kai (神鎧纏最高戦士 ・凱輝・改, Sōru Āmā Naito Gaiki Kai lit. God Armour Clad Supreme Warrior Shining Victory Revised), the successor unit of the Gaiki Soul Armour until its destruction, at which point Tsuruko uses Gaiki once more. For more information, see Archangel Uriel.
Early Silhouette (降段, Ārī Shiruetto lit. Level Down): Early Silhouette is one of two actual Soul Armour spells; it was designed to downgrade a Soul Armour into a more primitive form if there were any complications that would prevent the user from harnessing their armour's full power, allowing them to still wear it even amidst the dangers in front of them. When performing Early Silhouette, 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 spreads it wire-thin amongst the limbs and body of the armour, causing the Soul Armour to partially dematerialize as the user intentionally lowers their link coefficient, allowing the Soul Armour to take on a far weaker form that isn't so much a new armour, but rather, a new attire with bits and pieces of the Soul Armour here and there. Compared with its sister spell, Armour Purge, this technique does include the ability to fight continuously however; there is still a limit to the amount of damage that the user's body can accrue before they give out. In that respect, this technique can only be performed without making any mistakes and carries and equally high risk factor that makes it a big gamble for the user. The Armour Purge and Early Silhouette are both special attacks that Kirika and Tsuruko respectively devised to use immediately after suffering the effects of the Driver Canceller device that Alexis developed for her troops, the two deciding to wing it as usual and make up a counter. They require a high level of skill and talent to be able to perform, and are perhaps the first application of the Soul Armours to be considered an "underhanded trick."
— Tsuruko's activation phrase and the Phoenix Driver's transformation announcement for the Gaiki Soul Armour.
Soul Armour Knight Gaiki (神鎧纏最高戦士 ・凱輝, Sōru Āmā Naito Gaiki lit. God Armour Clad Supreme Warrior Shining Victory): The Gaiki Soul Armour, also known as Ultimate All-Purpose Humanoid Decisive Battle Weapon: Gaiki (汎用人型決戦兵器 人造人間・凱輝, Hanyō Jingata Kessen Heiki Jinzō Ningen Gaiki) in the blueprints by its developer Dzerve Sejren, and the Knight of Light (光の騎士, Hikari no Kishi) in legend, is the name of Tsuruko's Soul Armour- as the chapter Old Wounds reveals, Gaiki is the very first Soul Armour, developed in the Old World, and it's the template from which the others were hewn from- in a sense, it could be considered the granddaddy of all Soul Armours, as most of the other Prototype Soul Armours and some of the earlier New Generation Soul Armours copy aspects of its design, either aesthetically or mechanic-wise. Gaiki is referred to as the Azure Railway Knight (蒼鉄路の騎士, Sōtetsuro no Kishi); the first emergence of Gaiki comes about from the reaction to Tsuruko's resolve to save both humans and Hellion, which caused the Soul Sphere which her father gave to her in a vision to awaken, causing a chain reaction with the Phoenix Driver, rousing the Knight of Light from its eternal slumber. The first transition was rough on Tsuruko's body, as she was virtually incapacitated after the emergence of this new power. But as they manifest, the nature of the power became clear; and it is one not easily controlled.
Gaiki, appearance-wise, is relatively simple and is the embodiment of a paradox- it isn't too flashy, yet it's also quite flashy. The Gaiki Soul Armour simply hugs Tsuruko's form tightly, with no height and weight increase in comparison- there are no extra parts such as wings and other appendages attached to the armour, simply having the barest of essentials. Textured in mainly blacks and dark blues, Gaiki possesses a skin-tight black bodysuit for a Soul Wear under the deep azure armour portions that cover its lower arms, legs, and upper body. Rounded pauldrons referred to as the Shining Guarders (シャイニング・ガーダー, Shainingu Gādā) form Gaiki's shoulder armour, and the Soul Wear still persists to cover the armour's upper arms like sleeves before they terminate before the dark blue gauntlets which have golden rings which serve as wristbands and fingerless metallic gloves as well as golden fingers- the gauntlets are known as the Armed Impactors (アームド・インパクター, Āmudo Inpakutā); they are capable of punching through a fifty-centimeter thick Orichalcum plate. Lower body-wise, Gaiki has azurite-clad legs that possess numerous golden markings- in the portion that covers the middle of the legs, the colour is darker and silver knee-guards known as the Pad Impulsars (パッド・インパルサー, Paddo Inparusā) which protect the knees; the Soul Armour has golden anklets and blue boots.
Finally, the upper body is covered in deep blue armour with a golden turntable-esque protrusion in the center, which possesses a silver track-like dial stylized to resemble a 'T'. The quartet of silver rivets which serve as heat-radiator-fins and have small exhaust ports extending from the back possess train-track-like markings, and are naturally designed to be attached to the turntable-esque protrusion- if the dial were to turn in any direction upwards, it would always match with one of the rivets; this whole setup is referred to as the G-Circular (Ｇ・サーキュラー, G-Sākyurā). Finally, Gaiki's Persona, its helmet, is referred to as the Persona Victory (蒼鉄路・神仮面, Perusona Bikutorī lit. Azure Railway God Mask); a while the majority of the non-armed parts of the helmet is black, it possesses a silver marking at the very center which curves around to the front and back, terminating at the front where the ruby fanged Various Visor which cover the eyes and extend slightly upward, shaped like a 'V' rests. The Atmospheric Conductor resembles a silver grill, and attached to the mouth-cheeks are silver fins with exhausts facing forwards. Overall, the Soul Armour known as Gaiki has the motif of a bullet train; additionally, its oversized eyes, sleek, rounded lines, and overall cartoony look make it look a lot friendlier than the average Soul Armour; this is because it was created to protect Tsuruko.
In terms of general specs, as it is the very first Soul Armour developed, it was originally simply a test-bed for what was to come, meaning that Dzerve simply used the Gaiki frame to play with all sorts of experimental technologies (primarily in weapons development) incorporated in pursuit of a greater combat performance and utility, serving as a general-purpose Soul Armour; it was balanced for both short and long range combat, but even though it was designed to serve as a 'jack-of-all-trades' in combat, Tsuruko herself uses Gaiki almost exclusively for close-range melee combat, resulting in its current appearance- this means that even though it is focused on CQC, its basic performance is still that of a general purpose Soul Armour. However, although Gaiki is smaller and lighter than its ancestors, as well as the other Prototype Soul Armours, this size difference serves to make Gaiki faster, harder-hitting, more maneuverable, and all-around more efficient than most other Soul Armours. The seven Prototype Soul Armours, the only models developed by Dzerve Sejren and the originators of most of the basic technology used in their ancestors, are distinguished by their super-charged Drive Gems, which grants them enormous strength, speed, and durability when compared to other Soul Armours, making them leaps and bounds above other iterations- this, when combined with Gaiki's compressed size, makes the Soul Armour extremely deadly. In regards to capabilities, Gaiki is capable of overwhelming physical prowess, the ability to channel purple flames into its hands, Gaiki is quite mundane, but also practical as these are more often than not the only things that the armour needs as Tsuruko's fighting style focuses on taking down her enemies with maximum speed and aggression.
Unlike other Soul Armours, Gaiki is special; it seems to get stronger when Tsuruko becomes more determined. What's never made entirely clear is whether or not Gaiki has a will and consciousness of its own; though Tsuruko refers to Gaiki as if it were sentient. At times, Gaiki deactivates on its own when Tsuruko is depressed, but once she decides to fight, it summons itself, and on occasions it has unlocked its upgraded forms just by Tsuruko asking the armour to help her—without the need for the rings that are supposed to activate it. As later chapters reveal, Gaiki has what seems to be a highly advanced AI system, which gives it a personality of its own. It would act highly temperamental, and refuse to let anyone except Tsuruko utilize its full power. Even those with Sejren blood could only access the Proto-Gaiki form- Gaiki's full potential is exclusive to Tsuruko alone. Multiple characters question if Gaiki is merely a weapon, or a sentient being- while most people see her talking to Gaiki in battle and out of it as a sign of one of Tsuruko's oddities, when Tsuruko is fighting against Charlotte in the final arc, Gaiki can be seen emitting a spray of lights from the visor as if it were crying, and when Tsuruko needed insight and power when dealing with Cancer/Abyssion, Gaiki granted Tsuruko the techniques she needed to use the Arms Weapon.
As a contrast to any other Soul Armour, which have pre-set abilities programmed in by their wielders, Gaiki's power is based entirely on Tsuruko's fighting spirit, therefore giving its capabilities the room to increase exponentially; as it molds the majority of its fighting style and mechanics around Tsuruko's personality and fighting style, this results in Gaiki being suited to close-combat, with Tsuruko using nothing but flame covered punches and kicks- it is a hot-blooded armour emitting flames of burning spirit from its body; the fires are known as its Knight Power, Ardor Flame. Thanks to the versatile prototype frame, Gaiki can battle at its full extent in any environment, but it is particularly adept at ground combat and has outstanding stability in low orbit combat despite the pull of gravity. Although the Soul Armour itself has no defensive measures, it can use its Armed Impactors to protect itself against physical projectiles; this is known as 'pinpoint shield defense'. Indeed, before Aether's destruction, Gaiki was modified specifically for Tsuruko as a "final piece" for Deus Machina Number Three, and as such, it is capable of modifying itself to better suit Tsuruko's mechanical abilities—for example, the wrists of the armour are separate from the gauntlets, allowing Tsuruko to launch her Rocket Punch finisher without putting strain on the armour.
Because of its overwhelming physical capabilities as well as the Soul Armour's Knight Power which engulfs Tsuruko's fists and legs in flames, Gaiki generates excessive amounts of heat which would normally severely burn a wielder; in response, the G-Circular, which composes the heat-radiator-fins attached to the back, the turntable-esque protrusion on the chest and mouthpiece would automatically activate and shed the excess heat into the surroundings as an internal cooling system as a result; to function as their intended purpose, they are capable of storing fighting spirit for later emission when the heat becomes unbearable- this leads to an unintended side-effect referred to as Face Open. Normally, Tsuruko channels the Ardor meant for use in an Arms Weapon into the remainder of her body in order to boost the area of effect released by her attacks, allowing her to remain empty-handed; originally, this was because of her strong will to avoid fighting and connect with other people allows her to join hands with others since she has no weapon to hold in her hands. While not an Arms Weapon, the gauntlets of the Gaiki Armour can be considered akin to an Arms Weapon as they are Tsuruko's main weapons –both unarmoured and armoured; they take the form of pistons upon her arms and legs- this allows her to produce extremely powerful punches. Tsuruko can also use the pistons in her boots to leap very far distances at fast speed. It is considered the most powerful among Team Daybreak's Soul Armours, barring Phenex. By reacting to Tsuruko's willpower, it has the power to take upon new forms to adapt to the situation. Due to its origins as a prototype, Gaiki's internal armour structure is more complex and it is for this reason that there are no other Soul Armours similar to it.
The Armed Impactors.
Armed Impactors (アームド・インパクター, Āmudo Inpakutā): The Armed Impactors are the name of the gauntlets which are permanently grafted onto the Gaiki Soul Armour; they are dark blue gauntlets which have golden rings which serve as wristbands and fingerless metallic gloves as well as golden fingers. In contrast to other Soul Armours, Gaiki doesn't have an Arms Weapon, due to Tsuruko's wish to bring people together. Instead the energy meant for summoning and harnessing the power of the Arms Weapon, Tsuruko channels the Ardor meant for use in an Arms Weapon into the remainder of her body in order to boost the area of effect released by her attacks, allowing her to remain empty-handed; originally, this was because of her strong will to avoid fighting and connect with other people allows her to join hands with others since she has no weapon to hold in her hands. This eventually proves to be a benefit rather than a hindrance, as her strong will to avoid fighting and connect with other people allows her to join hands with others since she has no weapon to hold in her hands. Instead, the Armed Impactors and Power Jacks serve as Tsuruko's main weapons. While not an Arms Weapon, the gauntlets of the Gaiki Armour can be considered akin to an Arms Weapon as they are Tsuruko's main weapons –both unarmoured and armoured; the Armed Impactors possess piston-like structures which can be "fired" to add more force to her punches and jumps; in addition to being capable of being used as a delivery system for her fighting spirit and Zero Effect. The Armed Impactors are easily capable of smashing through Orichalcum, which was said to be unbreakable, as well as the scales of a Dragon (or at least a dragon-blooded human), as shown when Tsuruko shattered Charlotte's Dragonar Mode armour in a single leaping uppercut. Another thing the gauntlets are shown to do are enhance Tsuruko's punches to the point that she was capable of unleashing a straight punch that knocked several saints off of their feet, while also blowing away the top half of a mountain.
Impact Hike (インパクト・ハイク, Inpakuto Haiku): This is a special ability of the Power Jacks that are attached to the legs of Gaiki. Mainly the Power Jack is used when falling from high altitudes as a damper to alleviate damage from impact, however it can also be used to create a burst of acceleration or amplify the power of kicking attacks; more specifically, Tsuruko's Victorize Kick Limit Break, a flying side kick. The shockwave it produces can also be used to "kick in" the air which allows Tsuruko to move through the air in a limited capacity. The energy consumption of this move is much larger than it appears, however, and considering the cost and risk involved it was never sanctioned as a proper usage of the equipment. In the final chapters of Daybreak S1, by channeling the energy created through pushing the fighting spirit compression of the G-Circular to the limit, resulting in Face Open being activated, Tsuruko was able to use this technique consecutively in coordination with the flame platform technique to raise her maneuverability to equal terms with Charlotte's Dragonar Mode's own wings, thereby unfolding a faux dog fight in the skies.
Breast Fire (ブレスト・ファイヤー, Buresuto Faiyā): Breast Fire is a special technique that cannot really be classified as a spell under the banner of any magic- it is an improvised manuver devised by Tsuruko using the heat sinks on Gaiki's chest; Charlotte Merquise herself simply mimicked it during their battle to counter Tsuruko's own Breast Fire. In any case, when performing Breast Fire, the user surges their fighting spirit to the maximum, gathering and converging their very soul at a single point- their chest area. Once this has been done, the user harnesses the properties of the heat sinks attached to the chest of the Soul Armour (Tsuruko) or the "V"-shaped crest on the chest of Blazer Dragoon, hidden under the red scarf (Charlotte), bringing the power of spirit into the mortal realm and projecting them from the chest components in the form of an intensely hot blast of heat at the enemy, powerful enough to completely anything that it comes into contact with, reducing any buildings and metals to molten slag just by glancing past it. However, against an opposing force of equal power, Breast Fire's power is unknown as Tsuruko and Charlotte's own attacks cancelled each other out at the exact moment of collision.
Knight Power: Ardor Flame (闘気火炎, Arudā Furēmu lit. Fighting Spirit Blaze): The Ardor Flame is the name of the Gaiki Soul Armour's Knight power; when utilizing the Ardor Flame, Tsuruko is capable of channeling her fighting spirit for an offensive purpose, causing her burning spirit to manifest in the form of hyper-intense flames hotter than any fire-based supernatural power; comparable to solar flares. Normally, Tsuruko harnesses these flames in a similar manner to fire-based Slayer Magics, channeling the fire into her arms and legs, utilizing her body as a makeshift weapon unique to herself as she creates flames from many points on the Soul Armour's body at once. These purple flames can flow from the G-Circular, as well as her boots in order to increase her movement speeds drastically, leaving trails of fire in the wake of each and every one of her movements; she can also casually use the flames to imitate ground movement in the skies by using precise bursts of flame from the armour's leg thrusters to give her feet leverage, creating the curious impression that she's sprinting on vacuum. Interestingly, Tsuruko does not seem to be capable of using the Ardor Flames in an offensive-based manner, instead simply channeling them around her fists and feet to increase her attack power; this gives the visual appearance of Gaiki's gauntlets and greaves turning red and smoldering during a fight. With Face Open active and by using Ardor Flame, Tsuruko is capable of molding the flames released by Gaiki into a weapon referred to as the Blazefire Edge (ブレイズファイア・エッジ, Bureizufaia Ejji), a sword completely composed of purple flames used solely for close combat- however, as Tsuruko solely focuses on close-combat, this is mainly used to launch an opponent into the air as the flames are compacted, resulting in a drilling effect that can produce immense knockback, allowing Tsuruko to unleash the Victorize Kick Version 5. Being a power hewn from Tsuruko's fight-loving personality, Gaiki accordingly tunes her hot-blooded nature into a strength, the armour itself becoming an armour strengthened by passion with her burning emotions being channeled into these flames; as a result, most substances Tsuruko strikes tend to suffer from a fiery explosion. Indeed, as these fires are formed completely from Tsuruko's fighting spirit, they are unquenchable as long as Tsuruko's determination never falters, burning brighter and brighter as she steels her resolve.
G-Circular (Ｇ・サーキュラー, G-Sākyurā): The G-Circular is a special system built into the Gaiki Armour; it composes the heat-radiator-fins attached to the back, the turntable-esque protrusion on the chest and the Soul Armour's mouthpiece; all attachments associated with the system are either silver or gold in texture. As Gaiki itself has truly incredible performance specs, as well as its Knight Power generating flames of fighting spirit to engulf Tsuruko's fists and feet in fire, this makes it extremely powerful, but this also works as a double-edged sword- because of these abilities, it comes at the cost of potentially overheating from the tremendous amount of heat the Soul Armour's high-speed combat and flames generate. As such, the G-Circular was integrated within the frame to compensate; during battle, the G-Circular remains unresponsive and simply a decoration- however, after a certain buildup of heat and operation time, the G-Circular automatically activates to shed the excess heat into the surroundings as an internal cooling system as a result; to function as their intended purpose, they are capable of storing fighting spirit for later emission when the heat becomes unbearable. However, the G-Circular can also have a rather surprising side effect when Tsuruko is mentally and emotionally focused enough (usually when angry or upset), activating an unintended mode referred to as Face Open.
Face Open (フェイス・オープン, Feisu Ōpun) Face Open, also known as Ardor Burst Mode (闘気熱血究極形, Arudā Bāsuto Mōdo lit. Hot-Blooded Fighting Spirit Final Form), is a feature of the Gaiki Soul Armour that Dzerve never planned on making official. Interestingly, while Face Open appears to be a quasi-Super Mode state of sorts as it is described as "the mode in which Gaiki's performance limiters are disengaged", it is actually a design flaw; as Gaiki in combat generates too much heat, the G-Circular was installed within the frame in order to regulate heat and prevent the wearer from burning up with the Soul Armour equipped. However, if the G-Circular is somehow damaged or the radiator fins are incapable of being deployed, then the heat will build up continuously, reaching unbearable temperatures. Such damage results in the Gaiki Soul Armour having to remove the excess heat another way- since the Soul Armour's original function programming cannot devise an alternative option, it was only due to Tsuruko and Gaiki's spirits linking that the two could unwittingly activate another method. This resulted in Gaiki absorbing the fighting spirit gathered in the G-Circular and undergoing a quasi-transformation, with the fang-like visor of the Soul Armour splitting into three on each side, with the sharp shape becoming more wing-like while gigantic angelic wings of smoke laced with Ardor Flame are released from each of the silver rivets facing backwards on the G-Circular. Additionally, the mouth guard of the Gaiki Soul Armour is opened like a vent as smoke spewed from the exhausts on the fins attached to the mouth-cheeks. The first activation of Face Open was in Daybreak S1's penultimate arc, in the chapter Gaiki's Voice: Face Open!- during her final match with her old friend Charlotte Merquise, Gaiki's G-Circular was damaged, causing an immense heat build-up that could have killed Tsuruko. However, as she began to pass out from a heat stroke, Tsuruko heard Gaiki's voice calling to her, telling her to never give up as Gaiki adapted to the situation, resulting in the first transformation into Face Open mode. During the final battle of Daybreak S3 when Tsuruko was fighting Signa, Gaiki Kai's Drive Gem was cracked; however, Tsuruko and Excellen's strong feelings for each other manifested in a quantity of fighting spirit never seen before; allowing them to combine their power to repair Gaiki's Drive Gem, with Tsuruko transforming into Gaiki Face Open once more- this time, six pairs of wings which are composed of swirling emerald energy being emitted from the exhausts, resembling Excellen's Exalt Wings. While this set-up is engaged, thin layers of armour ablate off of the Soul Armour, which, when combined with Gaiki's own speed, give off the impression of an afterimage, resulting in an increase in performance all across the board, with all of its fortes massively amplified for short period of time; allow Gaiki's close-range attack, defense as well as its speed and mobility to be drastically increased by ten times its designated specifications and enabling Tsuruko to perform otherwise extremely demanding maneuvers or attacks that would normally be considered impossible. These afterimages of Gaiki are made up of metallic particles, which can deceive not only the eyes of enemies, but also radar and other sensors due to the heat signals they leave behind, making this ability quite useful. In terms of power, it is near impossible to gauge how much strength Gaiki Face Open has in comparison to the Soul Armour's other forms; though in this state, in its third activation, Tsuruko was capable of fighting on-par with Signa, easily the strongest being in the entire Sun Trilogy before beginning to overpower it with help from Excellen's psychic powers. In this form, Gaiki is capable of flight at astounding speeds, even breaking the sound barrier several times over and moving at a speed further beyond during the final battle with Signa. Additionally, Gaiki in Face Open has enough stopping power to completely nullify Signa's Spacetime Convergence Cannon blasts with some help from Tsuruko's Zero Effect. Regarding its abilities, Gaiki in Face Open seems to be essentially the same as the original Gaiki, though all of its parameters and functions have received a massive boost, being almost unparalleled in sheer power. However, when the battle ended in all of Face Open's appearances, Gaiki reverted back to its base state, suggesting that Face Open is a transformation with a time limit.
Limit Break (必殺技, Rimitto Bureiku lit. Finishing Move): A Limit Break is the "ultimate attack" (絶招, Zesshō) of a Soul Armour—they are extremely powerful attacks enabled via the user taking damage in some way. When the user takes enough damage to gain an enormous amount of energy, they may perform a Limit Break. The user gains more energy to perform a Limit Break as they get angrier, and foes push them to their limits, the user unleashes an "unimaginable power". When the user's fighting spirit rises to its ultimate limit, for a short while it aligns with and emits from the user's body, allowing powerful abilities that cannot be performed in a natural state. Though generally, a Soul Armour Knight has no problem dealing with mere magicians and other magical races, against beings such as Hellions and other Soul Armour Knights, they require much more than 'stab it/kick it/punch it until it goes down'. Thus, the Limit Breaks come into play. It gathers their fighting spirit and transforms it into power, unleashing a single attack with no equal aside from other Limit Breaks. As every iteration of Gaiki, Tsuruko's Limit Breaks are the Victorize Kick (閃光魔術蹴り, Bikutāraizu Kikku lit. Flashing Magical Kick), where she descends with a flying jump kick while engulfed in her fighting spirit or the Zero Effect, and the Rocket Punch (無限伸縮自在拳, Roketto Panchi lit. Infinite Telescoping Fist), where she launches her gauntlet and fist off of her limb like a rocket in order to smash the opponent with extreme prejudice. Gaiki also has another punching Limit Break called the Chaser Smash (流星拳打, Cheisā Sumasshu lit. Meteor Fist Barrage), where Tsuruko's fighting spirit causes the G-Circular to expel flames, as Tsuruko drifts towards the enemy and trips them up into the air. Afterwards, she unleashes a barrage of rapid punches onto the falling target, making an image of a speedometer appear from the resulting series of punches. Alternatively, Tsuruko can skip the tripping portion of her attack and go immediately to its punching portion. With Face Open active, Tsuruko can perform a variant of her Victorize Kick known as Victorize Kick Version 5 (閃光魔術蹴り・完結編版, Bikutāraizu Kikku Bājon Faibu lit. Flashing Magical Kick: Ending Chapter Edition), which involves revving the Drive Lever five times after the initial three, granting Tsuruko the energy to launch the foe into the air before attacking four times with different types of kicks, finishing them off completely by leaping above them and slamming down with one final regular Victorize Kick- however, the amount of energy needed to perform this attack results in Gaiki's transformation immediately disengaging after performing it.
Gaiki: Survive Mode (ガイキ・サバイブ・モード, Gaiki: Sabaibu Mōdo): Survive Mode is the term pertaining to Soul Armours that have unlocked a much more powerful form. The Survive Mode is activated by scanning the Survive Rings (サバイブ・リング, Sabaibu Ringu) over the Driver Belts, causing the Soul Armours to undergo a specific evolution exclusive to themselves, more often than not resulting in a sleeker form. The Survive Rings were developed to the blueprint stage but never constructed, as it were considered too powerful for any user; and later on, Giselle Mercury managed to stabilize them with help from her father, who added his own exalted magical power into the rings. The Survive Modes offer drastically enhanced parameters, which are actually the user's powers boosted to their absolute limits. However, in the case of Gaiki, Tsuruko is simply capable of activating the form by a strong desire of any kind. When entering Survive Mode, Tsuruko revs the Phoenix Driver, exclaiming "Survive!" at the top of her lungs; her wild emotions influence the Phoenix Driver to unleash the form- this causes Gaiki to become wreathed in brilliant and powerful flames, while Gaiki discards its unnecessary armour, granting an enormous boost in speed and power; especially the former. The introduction of lighter parts and vernier/attitude control thrusters allows Gaiki in Survive Mode to achieve mobility unprecedented in the history of armour-type warriors. What should be noted that there is a time lag of half a second when Tsuruko initiates Survive Mode- giving her opponents time to get the jump on her. In addition, because Gaiki has discarded its unnecessary parts, it has paper-thin armour. As Tsuruko upgraded to the Shin forms before showing this form, it is never actually shown.
Gaiki: Infinity Style
Gaiki's Super Mode.
""Super Drive On!" [DESIRE] [DISCHARGE] [DETERMINATION] [DRIVER] [DISASTER] [DESECRATION] [DAYBREAK] "This is the climax! [CODE: G-G-GENESIS] "Showtime, Gaiki!""
— Tsuruko's activation phrase, as well as the Phoenix Driver's activation chant for Infinity Style.
Gaiki: Infinity Style (ガイキ・インフィニティ・スタイル, Gaiki: Infiniti Sutairu): Gaiki: Infinity Style is the Super Mode of Gaiki- or rather, that is to say, the true form of the Soul Armour; referred to as the "evolution of infinite possibilities". It was the original form that Gaiki took upon until Dzerve sealed it away in preparation for the Old World being split in three. However, just like Survive Mode, as Tsuruko had already upgraded to the Shin forms before showing this form, it is unused until Daybreak S3, during Tsuruko's battle with Signa. Signa's own Spacetime Convergence Cannon rips Gaiki Kai's forms apart, one by one, erasing them- but when Gaiki Kai shatters, it reveals the original Gaiki in its Super Mode, as Tsuruko is standing still with her old partner reactivated, ready to turn the tables.
The Shin Forms are "upgraded" forms of the Gaiki Soul Armour, created at the end of Daybreak: Infinity Future, when the Phoenix Driver's Drive Gem was split in half thanks to the Paradox Hellion's final attack. Statistics wise, the Shin Forms aren't any different than the vanilla Gaiki- they even have the exact same belt announcements, however, they look completely different.
— Tsuruko's activation phrase and the Phoenix Driver's transformation announcement for the Gaiki Shin Soul Armour.
Shin Gaiki (真・凱輝, Neo Shining Victory): During the Phosphor arc and during Tsuruko's battle with the eponymous antagonist, Gaiki undergoes an evolution to a far more advanced form, which was triggered by hearing Excellen Kilekion's song, a rendition of Alphonse Sejren's "Go! Go! Gaiki!", a cheesy piece that he wrote about how much he wanted to be a hero and how he viewed Gaiki as an "angel of peace". This provoked a strong sense of resolve within Tsuruko, who was brought back from the brink of defeat as Gaiki responded to her feelings. It was an evolution unlike anything ever- Gaiki underwent a drastic change in appearance. The armour turned a burning scarlet with numerous blacks- the silver portions became a purer white, and the crimson fangs on the facemask became elongated and neon-green in texture. The armour gains four neon-green wings extending from the back that can disengage at any times, and the pauldrons become bulkier. This form's official name is Shin Gaiki (真・凱輝, Neo Shining Victory), but Tsuruko and the others simply still refer to the Soul Armour as "Gaiki". While it looks drastically different, Gaiki's change is actually for display and does nothing at all, only to make the armour look "cooler"; or so Dzerve says in a flashback. However, the new form seems to provide a boost in power even when it was stated by the creator of the Soul Armour that it shouldn't—an example of this is that evolving was more than enough to overwhelm Phosphor, who up until that point had effortlessly dominated the Ten Wizard Saints and had Tsuruko on the ropes throughout their battle. In this form, as a contrast to Gaiki's title of the Azure Railway Knight, Shin Gaiki is known as the "Red-Hot Fighting God" (灼熱乱神, Shakunetsu Ranshin). After first evolving, Gaiki stays as Shin Gaiki for the rest of the series until its destruction at the end of Daybreak S2.
Tsuruko as Shin Gaiki initiating the Victorize Kick Limit Break.
Limit Break (必殺技, Rimitto Bureiku lit. Finishing Move): A Limit Break is the "ultimate attack" (絶招, Zesshō) of a Soul Armour—they are extremely powerful attacks enabled via the user taking damage in some way. When the user takes enough damage to gain an enormous amount of energy, they may perform a Limit Break. The user gains more energy to perform a Limit Break as they get angrier, and foes push them to their limits, the user unleashes an "unimaginable power". When the user's fighting spirit rises to its ultimate limit, for a short while it aligns with and emits from the user's body, allowing powerful abilities that cannot be performed in a natural state. Though generally, a Soul Armour Knight has no problem dealing with mere magicians and other magical races, against beings such as Hellions and other Soul Armour Knights, they require much more than 'stab it/kick it/punch it until it goes down'. Thus, the Limit Breaks come into play. It gathers their fighting spirit and transforms it into power, unleashing a single attack with no equal aside from other Limit Breaks. As Gaiki, Tsuruko's Limit Breaks are the Victorize Kick (閃光魔術蹴り, Bikutāraizu Kikku lit. Flashing Magical Kick), where she descends with a flying jump kick while engulfed in her fighting spirit or the Zero Effect, and the Rocket Punch (無限伸縮自在拳, Roketto Panchi lit. Infinite Telescoping Fist), where she launches her gauntlet and fist off of her limb like a rocket in order to smash the opponent with extreme prejudice. In this form only, while tag-teamming with Rosa during the fight against Mr. E, Tsuruko utilizes a variant of her Victorize Kick Limit Break called the Dragorize Kick (閃光魔術蹴り・荒れ光竜版, Dragoraizu Kikku lit. Flashing Magical Kick: Berserk Light Dragon Version); with this attack, four spinning tires of light manifest to surround the enemy and bombarded E while Tsuruko turns her back to the target as Rosa, in her dragon form races around her, allowing Tsuruko to focus her power. The tires then fully close in on the target, making the target shoot forwards towards Tsuruko, who instead jumps at Indra and kicks at her, making Tsuruko bounce off of Indra and kick the target. Tsuruko then keeps bouncing off Indra and kicking the target in a pinball-like manner with flaming strikes, though this is notably slower compared with the regular Victorize Kick until she comes in with the final kick, skidding to a stop.
Gaiki: Survive Mode (ガイキ・サバイブ・モード, Gaiki: Sabaibu Mōdo): Survive Mode is the term pertaining to Soul Armours that have unlocked a much more powerful form. The Survive Mode is activated by scanning the Survive Rings (サバイブ・リング, Sabaibu Ringu) over the Driver Belts, causing the Soul Armours to undergo a specific evolution exclusive to themselves, more often than not resulting in a sleeker form. The Survive Rings were developed to the blueprint stage but never constructed, as it were considered too powerful for any user; and later on, Giselle Mercury managed to stabilize them with help from her father, who added his own exalted magical power into the rings. The Survive Modes offer drastically enhanced parameters, which are actually the user's powers boosted to their absolute limits. However, in the case of Gaiki, Tsuruko is simply capable of activating the form by a strong desire of any kind. When entering Survive Mode, Tsuruko revs the Phoenix Driver, exclaiming "Survive!" at the top of her lungs; her wild emotions influence the Phoenix Driver to unleash the form- this causes Gaiki to become wreathed in brilliant and powerful flames, while Gaiki discards its unnecessary armour, granting an enormous boost in speed and power; especially the former. The introduction of lighter parts and vernier/attitude control thrusters allows Gaiki in Survive Mode to achieve mobility unprecedented in the history of armour-type warriors. What should be noted that there is a time lag of half a second when Tsuruko initiates Survive Mode- giving her opponents time to get the jump on her. In addition, because Gaiki has discarded its unnecessary parts, it has paper-thin armour. The weakness of that Survive Mode is stamina itself. Using it involves consuming great amounts of stamina, causing Tsuruko to only be capable of utilizing it for ten seconds at most. In Survive Mode, Gaiki's speed and power can wreak havoc on the battlefield, piercing through the enemy lines and smashing everything in between. Essentially, the Survive Mode allows Gaiki to move at ten times the speed of sound for usually ten seconds, her physical attacks also become twice as strong and she can perform a new variety of her regular finishing techniques.
Hyper-Speed Combat: From the moment that she activates Survive Mode, Tsuruko compresses her power into a small, condensed form, and uses the power of the form in order to perform high-speed combat; hitting the peak of her speed when she sheds the back armour of Gaiki. Her new speed enhances her movements a hundredfold, allowing her to create dozens of afterimages to confuse her opponent. When in Survive Style, Gaiki generates excessive amounts of heat, before dissipating the excess heat by shedding the outer layers of the armour; to onlookers, it seems as if Tsuruko utilizes some form of Teleportation Magic; creating multiple afterimages made up of metallic particles while enabling her to move at even higher speeds than before. As the afterimages are composed of metallic particles; they contain mass, and with her Zero Effect, Tsuruko can install one movement into them the moment they are formed, such as an attack or defense in order to assault her foe. Even if someone could detect her trajectory, it is near impossible to catch her. It can be theorized that Tsuruko can keep up this speed as long as she wishes. By focusing this power into a single leg, Tsuruko can launch a much faster kick with much greater impact. Tsuruko's speed appears to create up to eight doubles of herself while in motion. These doubles are not illusory; Tsuruko is moving at a speed between different positions that is faster than the speed of sound. As such, were all the doubles to attack at once, it would mean that Tsuruko is attacking from all those positions simultaneously, giving her incredible destructive power. Similarly, because of this same speed, attacking the doubles would be futile as Tsuruko would have moved long before the attack even reaches her. Essentially, because of this power, Gaiki in Survive Mode has extreme high speed and maneuverability, along with unlimited bursts of accelerations; increasing amount of thrust produced. It should be noted that the expansion of this energy produces a crimson sphere of power solidified magical energy, causing it to become essentially an energy ball that surrounds her as she moves. Tsuruko mainly utilizes this to fly in like a meteor, dealing damage as she moves. Overall, Survive Mode increases Gaiki's speed and attack by thrice its normal specifications.
Enhanced Strength: Tsuruko's Survive Mode further enhances her naturally great strength. She effortlessly blocked a punch from Mr. E with relative ease. The sudden boost in strength upon activating the form allows Tsuruko to break free from any attack which binds her or prevents her from moving. She can grab a blade with her bare hand without feeling any of the exerted force, though said force could do considerable damage to the surrounding area. She can effortlessly break through the Black Coffin spell, cast by Elsie Albion, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, with just her bare hand.
Gaiki: Infinity Mode
Infinity Style, Gaiki's strongest form and the true power of Deus Machina Number Three.
""Super Drive On!" [DESIRE] [DISCHARGE] [DETERMINATION] [DRIVER] [DISASTER] [DESECRATION] [DAYBREAK] "This is the climax! [CODE: G-G-GENESIS] "Showtime, Gaiki!""
— Tsuruko's activation phrase, as well as the Phoenix Driver's activation chant for Infinity Style.
Gaiki: Infinity Style (ガイキ・インフィニティ・スタイル, Gaiki: Infiniti Sutairu): Gaiki: Infinity Style is the Super Mode of Gaiki- or rather, that is to say, the true form of the Soul Armour; referred to as the "evolution of infinite possibilities". It was the original form that Gaiki took upon until Dzerve sealed it away in preparation for the Old World being split in three. It would only unlock itself through Tsuruko's determination to prevent the universe from going the same way as the Old World in Daybreak S3. During her final battle with the Black Gaiki, Tsuruko was down for the count- until she heard Gaiki's voice speaking to her, encouraging her to not give up. At this point, she realized whom Gaiki really was- as Soul Armours were forged from thousands of souls, there was only one person who would talk to her like that. As they finally said goodbye to each other after so long, Tsuruko's fighting spirit was revitalized. These strong emotions provoked yet another evolution within Gaiki, allowing it to transform into its strongest form. In this form, Gaiki is referred to as the "Knight of Hope", the ultimate shape of courage.
When in Infinity Style, Gaiki takes upon a silver-white texture which replaces the reds and blacks of the vanilla Gaiki, with regal gold markings replacing the whites of the armour as well. A sextet of large, elongated feathers with neon-green tips stick out of its pauldrons, and on the back of these pauldrons are two azure elongated binders which jut straight down. On the backs of its arms are medium-sized, serrated, golden feather-like blades, and trailing down its legs are majestic silver feathers tipped with Vernier thrusters. Its body, with the exception of the chest plate is coloured a glimmering golden, and its joints are illustrious as well. It possesses cross-like wing binders which serve as both Vernier thrusters and four powerful beam cannons. The extra "arms" are known to be thought-controlled drones known as "Seekers". Overall, Gaiki looks less like a warrior and more like a holy knight in Infinity Style. The zero particles of the inner frame allows Gaiki to possess near human flexibility and through its glowing effect, is able to discharge excess residual energy within the body through the joints.
Infinity Style is known as the Evolved Perfect Warrior (進化完璧戦士, Shinka Kanpeki Senshi), as it also represents the perfect union between Tsuruko and Gaiki. The sheer knowledge of this form wields allows Tsuruko to instantly analyze the opponent's capabilities and devise a perfect counter. When in battle, Infinity Gaiki is able to see a transformed opponent's human form and every single attack causes her opponent to bleed, despite the enemy's powerful armour- a good example of this is when Tsuruko's normal punches managed to inflict lasting damage upon Devius, directly ignoring his nanomachine defenses, whereas even an exalt such as Jonas was unable to break through said nanomachines. In this form, Tsuruko is considered the absolute strongest character in the Sun Trilogy, with no real equal. The downside of Infinity Style is that it is powered by Tsuruko's bonds with her friends, and it can't be accessed when any of her friends cut their bonds with her. According to Mr. E, the alternate way to activate Infinity Style is through ruthlessness; though nothing more has actually been explained, since Tsuruko has a bright and friendly personality. It is eventually revealed that the access to this form relies mainly on Tsuruko's faith in the friendship she forged instead.
Peak Physical Powers: When in this state; Tsuruko's attributes are drastically enhanced; because, with a simple swing of her fist, Tsuruko is capable of manifesting a violent tremor that obliterates the ground it comes into contact with and knock her foes away; in addition, her blows are positively overwhelming and can be bone-shattering. The sudden boost in strength upon activating the form allows Tsuruko to break free from any attack which binds her or prevents her from moving. She can grab a blade with her bare hand without feeling any of the exerted force, though said force could do considerable damage to the surrounding area. In addition, her endurance has been upped significantly; enabling her to receive damage like it was nothing and ignore all senses of pain—though it should be noted that this varies on the factor of how powerful the blow is. Finally, Tsuruko's naturally immense swiftness is augmented to the point that she forgoes any need for speed-enhancing techniques, enabling her to outstrip almost anyone in a contest of pure speed. What is interesting to note is that Infinity Style enhances all of Tsuruko's moves, greatly increasing their area-of-effect as well as improving their damage. Although the power of her fists remain unchanged, all of her other attributes are being pushed to their peak, making Infinity Style Tsuruko's greatest form. In fact, in this form, she is so powerful that it was shown that her Rocket Punch was capable of circling the entire Old World twice in the blink of an eye in order to grab Devius, at which point Tsuruko finished him off with her Victorize Kick, which had enough power to destroy the entire Old World, essentially freeing the universe from the past that had plagued them for good.
The Kourin Seekers of Rosa Dimaggio's Stardust Dragonar Knight form, manifested by Gaiki Infinity.
Kourin Seekers (コウリン・シーカ, Kōrin Shīka): The Kourin Seekers were absorbed from Rosa Dimaggio's Dragonar Mode during Tsuruko's battle with her in Daybreak S1, and only in S3 manifested as a supplementary armament for Infinity Style. They are numerous drones remote-controlled by Tsuruko's thoughts, taking the form of numerous blades formed from zero energy, albeit different than her Zero Blades. A total of 6 Large and 8 Small such seekers are materialized. The Large Seekers can also be used as solid combat blades for melee combat as well. The Kourin Seekers also have the ability to generate a unique shield of zero energy, known as a "shining barrier", to provide a defense with lower outputs compared to the light shield's magic consumption. Although these seekers prove incredibly effective and flexible in purpose, they are also large, making them easy to be destroyed. The Kourin Seekers can be attached to the Gaikiken to form an enormous arm blade for combat. For added defense, Tsuruko can deploy a force field by placing the six Kourin Seekers in a closed spherical formation; and she herself can attack outside of this sphere; leaving her essentially invulnerable. This sphere serves as an almost impenetrable shield; only the most powerful weapons are capable of breaching it, and even then, damage to Tsuruko is generally minimal. Rather than traditional force-fields, it behaves more like membranes and twist and tear as such when it is penetrated. The shield is difficult to break and serves as a protection from outside forces, stronger with the emotion or memory that was used to create it. Notably, a positive force can destroy it utterly. The Kourin Seeker Barrier can also be used to form a massive light spike, which is even able to stab through another lightwave barrier. They also possess many attacking roles, such as attacking individually; and when positioned together in a circle, they can form a barrier of light or aid in teleportation by grouping into a circular, portal-like formation, using a thick saturation of light as a gateway.
Arms Weapon Summon: A special ability unique to Infinity Style is that Tsuruko is capable of harnessing the ability to summon and utilize either any of the Arms Weapons, any of the three weapons with an attachment slot for the Super Soul Rings, or any Old World-derived Relic simply by accessing their power through the Phoenix Driver. In order to access her summoning ability, Tsuruko must rev the lever on her belt once, which causes the Phoenix Driver to announce the name of said weapon, releasing a pulse of strong Ardor power which momentarily overpowers the wills of the Soul Armour's Arms Weapon and the like, allowing Tsuruko to briefly steal her opponent's Arms Weapon or Super Soul Ring using a form of teleportation or digital transfer to transport them into her hands. As an added bonus, she is capable of doing this multiple times to summon different weapons, simultaneously if necessary, which can also allow her to fire off the summoned weapons as projectiles against the enemy. Tsuruko has also been shown to maintain her Gaikiken if she transforms directly into Infinity Style. In addition, she is also able to bring forth a different weapon in place of her current weapon without revving the lever on the Phoenix Driver. The attack power of any weapon summoned by this ability, as well as the force of its finishing attack, is far superior than when it is normally wielded by an ordinary Soul Armour.
Like the other Prototype Soul Armours, under unique conditions, or by raising their fighting spirit to break restrictions installed within the belt, allowing the Soul Armour to take upon new forms. However, when exposed to or influenced by powerful feelings and energies, Gaiki is capable of taking upon further alternate forms, such as the Shin "upgrade". Unfortunately, the power-up changes have never been permanent. After expending its energies, the armour reverts to its normal form. The multiple forms that Tsuruko harnesses are accessed through a technique called Illegal Move Change Gaiki (合士解放覚醒, Irīgaru Mūbu Chenji Gaiki lit. Fusion Knight Liberation Awakening).
Gaiki: Full Force (ガイキ・フル・フォース, Gaiki: Furu Fōsu): Gaiki Full Force is an enhanced version of Gaiki Shin, born from Tsuruko's immense fighting spirit during her battle with Amadam in Daybreak S2. When Gaiki transforms into its Full Force mode, the mainly blacks and reds of the Soul Armour scatter to the winds, with whites replacing the darker textures, giving Gaiki Shin a much more friendly appearance. The neon-green wires that serve as the face-mask retract and turn into a proper golden dual V-fin. The G-Circular now takes the form of two armour plates with markings affixed upon Gaiki's chest, right in front of its shoulders, which allow the Soul Armour to manifest a force-field of willpower similar to an Ardor Field for minutes at a time. The pauldrons of the armour have become white as well, and the gauntlets of the Soul Armour now have reddish patterns affixed upon them.
As Full Force Gaiki, there is very little difference between the new form and Gaiki Shin; however, the form does have an increased defense due to the composition of the Soul Metal becoming bulkier. In this form, Gaiki's power has increased exponentially, making Tsuruko stronger than even the entirety of the Ten Wizard Saints; though her speed and jumping height are visibly affected due to the bulky armour manifested by Full Force mode. As a trade-off, this form sports impressive defensive power, which is enough for Tsuruko to withstand the firepower of dozens of eternano cannons with no ill effect. The defensive power of this form also allows Tsuruko to withstand the power of two dragons attempting to crush her. In addition, the emerald orb on Full Force Gaiki's chest is capable of launching a compressed beam of pure fighting spirit.
Tsuruko as Full Force Gaiki utilizing the Rocket Punch Limit Break.
'Limit Break (必殺技, Rimitto Bureiku lit. Finishing Move): A Limit Break is the "ultimate attack" (絶招, Zesshō) of a Soul Armour—they are extremely powerful attacks enabled via the user taking damage in some way. When the user takes enough damage to gain an enormous amount of energy, they may perform a Limit Break. The user gains more energy to perform a Limit Break as they get angrier, and foes push them to their limits, the user unleashes an "unimaginable power". When the user's fighting spirit rises to its ultimate limit, for a short while it aligns with and emits from the user's body, allowing powerful abilities that cannot be performed in a natural state. Though generally, a Soul Armour Knight has no problem dealing with mere magicians and other magical races, against beings such as Hellions and other Soul Armour Knights, they require much more than 'stab it/kick it/punch it until it goes down'. Thus, the Limit Breaks come into play. It gathers their fighting spirit and transforms it into power, unleashing a single attack with no equal aside from other Limit Breaks. As Full Force Gaiki, Tsuruko has access to an enhanced version of the Rocket Punch (無限伸縮自在拳, Roketto Panchi lit. Infinite Telescoping Fist), where she launches her gauntlet and fist off of her limb like a rocket in order to smash the opponent with extreme prejudice.
Gaiki: Violent Emotion
Gaiki Violent Emotion initial form's full appearance.
Gaiki: Violent Emotion (凱輝・激情態, Gaiki Gekijōtai): Gaiki Violent Emotion is the form that Gaiki Shin takes during Tsuruko's fight with Arc in the climax of Daybreak S2. It is a form born from Tsuruko's strong emotions- mainly, her desire to save Excellen from what she assumes is Arc's belt's influence. In any case, when Gaiki becomes its Violent Emotion form, it takes upon a form similar to Full Force Gaiki- however, the armour plates begin to glow; displaying that Gaiki Violent Emotion is constantly utilizing its special ability. In addition, it has lighter armour, allowing it to move slightly faster- but the defense of the Full Force form is still around, to a lesser extent. The emerald orb on Gaiki's chest becomes more of an oval shape, beginning to glow a light purple in colour. Two protrusions extend from the Violent Emotion form's back, each with an arc and an arrowhead at the end, which shine as Gaiki Violent Emotion stores energy.
Gaiki Violent Emotion, statistics-wise, is no different from the original Gaiki Shin, with the exception of slightly tougher armour and a minutely higher maximum movement speed. However, Gaiki Violent Emotion is also the embodiment of Tsuruko's emotions, meaning that its ability makes it stronger and stronger with every passing second; it protects somebody being attacked, like how Tsuruko would go out of her way to protect anyone else; as well as her refusal to give up even when a situation is at its grimmest for her.
Gaiki Violent Emotion's full form.
Burning Emotion: Gaiki Violent Emotion has a Knight Power separate from the normal Gaiki's power- the more damage that Tsuruko takes, the more powerful she gets, which is represented by Gaiki's body slowly beginning to glow a faint pink. Essentially, Gaiki's Soul Metal and Tsuruko's fighting spirit work together to cushion the kinetic and supernatural energy discharged in Tsuruko's direction, absorbing it as her willpower simply makes Gaiki Violent Emotion stronger, faster, and much more durable. The efficiency of this conversion of kinetic and supernatural energies into physical power raises the more damage that Tsuruko takes, and it can easily be seen by that the end of the battle, Tsuruko's strength would have become stronger than the Two Dragon Kings, if not more; as the combat becomes more intense Tsuruko becomes faster and stronger due to this ability. If Tsuruko is damaged to the point of being on the verge of death, possibly an enormous amount of power enough to destroy everything before her eyes will be saved up; essentially, Tsuruko can win by reversal. However, Tsuruko can still feel pain and get injured. When this Knight Power completely manifests, Gaiki's V-fin begins to shine pink.
— Tsuruko's activation phrase and the Phoenix Driver's transformation announcement for the Gaiki Future Mode.
Gaiki Future Mode (ガイキ・フューチャー・モード, Gaiki Fyūchā Mōdo): Gaiki Future Mode is a special form of the Gaiki Soul Armour, exclusive to Daybreak: Infinity Future; it is a one-time transformation. Gaiki Future Mode was achieved during the climax of the special, where the Paradox Hellion managed to combine with his past self to achieve his Hyper Armourize form and cracked Gaiki's Drive Gem, Tsuruko managed to take the remains of Gaiki NEXT's Drive Gem and use it as a replacement, fitting the portion of Gaiki NEXT's Drive Gem in rather crudely; nevertheless, it enabled Tsuruko to transform into Gaiki once more; albeit in an upgraded form. In Future Mode, Gaiki's red visors become golden, with the G-Circular also shining gold while the gauntlets and boots of the armour turn scarlet. This form combines the powers of the present and future iterations of Gaiki, enabling Tsuruko to match up with the immense power of the Paradox Hellion's Hyper Armourize form, which was formed by the fusion of the Hellion's present and future selves.
Indeed, due to being a fusion of the present and the future, when Tsuruko transforms into Gaiki Future Mode, a projection of Clarissa manifests besides her, doing the same transformation pose. As Future Mode, Gaiki's statistics skyrocket, though Tsuruko has lost some of her physical might from Gaiki's Super Mode, but is far more flexible than Infinity Style and still performs better compared to Survive Mode. Also, she gains more speed compared to Infinity Style. To make up for the slightly weaker stats, as a prelude to the Infinity Code, Gaiki Future Mode receives the ability to summon and utilize Turbo's Wheeler Shooter and Agito's Evol Axe at any time that she wishes. Additionally, by using Gaiki's Gaikiken gauntlet and Gaiki NEXT's Gaikiken sword in tandem, Tsuruko can perform a series of quick purple energy slashes that can smash through even the nigh-impenetrable skin of a Hyper Armourize Hellion. After Tsuruko destroyed the Paradox Hellion with her Victorize Kick, the portion of Gaiki NEXT's Drive Gem that she used to initiate fell out and shattered, meaning that the fight was the first and only appearance of Gaiki Future Mode.
— Tsuruko's activation phrase and the Phoenix Driver's transformation announcement for the Gaiki Scarlight Soul Armour.
Gaiki Scarlight (ガイキ・スカーライト, Gaiki: Sukāraito): Gaiki Scarlight is an incomplete/damaged form that Gaiki takes upon after Gaiki's Drive Gem was further damaged by Arc at the end of the Nega End Crisis. Unlike the other iterations of the Gaiki Soul Armour, it lacks the extra exhausts which normally emit Tsuruko's willpower, and the G-Circular is damaged beyond repair- the more mechanized state of the legs means that the lower body area is not as durable as normal. Other than that, Gaiki Scarlight has a more streamlined design compared to the Shin forms, though its limbs appear less sturdy, due to the Phoenix Driver being unable to generate enough Soul Metal. Gaiki Scarlight, obviously, is a downgrade compared to the other forms; in fact, Giselle noted that its power seemed to be only slightly above a Proto-form. It cannot access all of the DB Weapons, meaning that Tsuruko's attack options are limited.
The G-Circular protruding from Tsuruko's abdomen.
As most of Gaiki's other weapons were discarded and destroyed in the battle against Magatsu, Gaiki Scarlight only has access to a fractured Gaikiken and its beam emitter, leaving it with very little offensive options. Since the G-Circular is broken, Gaiki Scarlight has a difficult time manifesting Tsuruko's fighting spirit into her combat style, limiting its potential further- and to add insult to injury, due to the replacement of the legs with much more mechanical versions, Gaiki Scarlight cannot access the Power Jacks, denying Gaiki its normal high-speed movements. Even worse, due to Gaiki's malfunctioning AI and fractured Driver Belt, when transforming, the Driver Belt releases an enormous amount of steam and the Soul Armour attempts to manifest the G-Circular of the Full Force and Violent Emotion forms- but due to a lack of Soul Metal and the berserk artificial intelligence, the G-Circular forms through Tsuruko's stomach instead the very first time, leading Tsuruko to have to forcibly break it off and endure the pain. Because of Gaiki Scarlight's extensive damage and overall limited combat options, Tsuruko was forced to rely on her own skills alone to fend off Camilla and her Hellions.
Gaiki Scarlight was first deployed against Camilla Straights and her Black Gaiki in S3- however, even though Tsuruko was able to match her for around ten minutes, simply by relying on her own skill, she was quickly outmatched when the Black Gaiki entered its own Shin form, leading to Gaiki Scarlight becoming heavily damaged. Tsuruko would then gain access to Gaiki Kai thanks to Giselle's intervention, but not before receiving heavy damage, with Gaiki Scarlight losing both legs and its left arm.
Tsuruko as Gaiki Scarlight utilizing the Rocket Punch Limit Break.
'Limit Break (必殺技, Rimitto Bureiku lit. Finishing Move): A Limit Break is the "ultimate attack" (絶招, Zesshō) of a Soul Armour—they are extremely powerful attacks enabled via the user taking damage in some way. When the user takes enough damage to gain an enormous amount of energy, they may perform a Limit Break. The user gains more energy to perform a Limit Break as they get angrier, and foes push them to their limits, the user unleashes an "unimaginable power". When the user's fighting spirit rises to its ultimate limit, for a short while it aligns with and emits from the user's body, allowing powerful abilities that cannot be performed in a natural state. Though generally, a Soul Armour Knight has no problem dealing with mere magicians and other magical races, against beings such as Hellions and other Soul Armour Knights, they require much more than 'stab it/kick it/punch it until it goes down'. Thus, the Limit Breaks come into play. It gathers their fighting spirit and transforms it into power, unleashing a single attack with no equal aside from other Limit Breaks. As Gaiki Scarlight, Tsuruko has access to a weakened version of the Rocket Punch (無限伸縮自在拳, Roketto Panchi lit. Infinite Telescoping Fist), where she launches her gauntlet and fist off of her limb like a rocket in order to smash the opponent with extreme prejudice- in this pathetic state, however, the Rocket Punch does not possess the sheer power of its previous iterations, as instead of smashing through the Black Gaiki, it failed to put a real dent in its armour, though it did cause Camilla to take two steps back.
— Tsuruko's activation phrase and the Phoenix Driver's transformation announcement for the Gaiki Logos Soul Armour.
Gaiki Logos (凱輝・熱血霊, Gaiki Rogosu lit. Shining Victory Passionate Spirit): Gaiki Logos is an augmented form of the Gaiki Scarlight form- it is the penultimate form that Gaiki takes upon. During Tsuruko's fight with Signa at the end of Daybreak S3, as both were Deus Machina, the two's A-Trans function began to overclock, absorbing data from one another as they countered each others' attacks; their power and speed increasing rapidly as the battle progressed, continually evolving into stronger states and ripping holes through various dimensions as the two had become something far more than three-dimensional beings. With Tsuruko, the Gaiki Soul Armour evolved as well while it cycled through its numerous forms- once Signa smacked Gaiki down to its Scarlight form with his Supernova attack, Tsuruko's Zero Effect absorbed the power and the A-Trans converted it into data, evolving Gaiki Scarlight into Gaiki Logos.
Gaiki Logos appears identical to that of Gaiki Scarlight, though the colours are slightly different for the upper part. The legs are still dark and have radio dishes attached to the sides, and the armour still has a streamlined appearance, but the reds of Gaiki Scarlight are now orange; the armour has a slightly more oriental feel. The head crest is a dull golden V-fin, and the core is exposed in its entirety. Flames constantly spew forth from the exhaust, giving off the image of burning wings. In this form, Gaiki is shown to have power comparable to Gaiki Kai's Bakken Mode, if not slightly stronger. The sheer power of this form shows it to be the third most powerful form of Gaiki's capable of both deflecting and destroying objects on a planetary scale with ease. Like every other form of Gaiki, Gaiki Logos excels in close-range combat, and it can enhance its hand-to-hand strikes with the power to create flames from many points on its body at once; these fires are formed completely from Tsuruko's fighting spirit. Additionally, Gaiki Logos can utilize the Infinity Code to manifest any Arms Weapon of Tsuruko's choice, and she has several minor powers such as telekinesis and the ability to generate a shield of energy to protect her from attacks.
Ardor Flames.
Ardor Flame (闘気火炎, Arudā Furēmu lit. Fighting Spirit Blaze): A special function of Gaiki Logos is that Tsuruko is capable of channeling her fighting spirit for an offensive purpose, causing her burning spirit to manifest in the form of hyper-intense flames hotter than any fire-based supernatural power; comparable to solar flares. Normally, Tsuruko harnesses these flames in a similar magic to fire-based Slayer Magics, channeling the fire into her arms and legs, utilizing her body as a makeshift weapon unique to herself as she creates flames from many points on the Soul Armour's body at once. At an average rate of expenditure of energy, Tsuruko is capable of utilizing the Ardor Flames for about ten hours; the Ardor Flames are omnidirectional and they can reach about ten billion Fahrenheit, and a concentrated stream is similar to the heat-pulse of a nuclear warhead detonation, with an area of total devastation of about nine hundred feet in diameter and the power of a super nova; this was enough to destroy one of Aether's moons. As these fires are formed completely from Tsuruko's fighting spirit, they are unquenchable as long as Tsuruko's determination never falters, burning brighter and brighter as she steels her resolve.
Centaur Mode.
Centaur Mode (ケンタウロス・モード, Kentaurosu Mōdo): As the battle with Signa progressed, Tsuruko's fighting spirit combined with the evolutionary process of the A-Trans, causing Gaiki Logos to take upon yet another form, that of the bipedal Centaur Mode; a Mode Change. When Centaur Mode is deployed, Gaiki Logos' legs expand outwards, forming two differently coloured sets of legs. In this state, Gaiki Logos' speed has increased dramatically, greatly improving the mobility of the armour and giving it powerful thrusts in forward and side to side movements. Centaur Mode also enables Gaiki Logos to make irregular maneuvers that normal Soul Armours cannot do. When in motion, Tsuruko's opponents bounce off of an invisible force field which surrounds her body akin to the Ardor Field generated upon transformation as she drives through them; the form is also durable enough to smash through dense rocks as if they were nothing.
Gaiki Logos using the Infinity Rocket Punch to smash Signa at every point in the time-space continuum.
Limit Break (必殺技, Rimitto Bureiku lit. Finishing Move): A Limit Break is the "ultimate attack" (絶招, Zesshō) of a Soul Armour—they are extremely powerful attacks enabled via the user taking damage in some way. When the user takes enough damage to gain an enormous amount of energy, they may perform a Limit Break. The user gains more energy to perform a Limit Break as they get angrier, and foes push them to their limits, the user unleashes an "unimaginable power". When the user's fighting spirit rises to its ultimate limit, for a short while it aligns with and emits from the user's body, allowing powerful abilities that cannot be performed in a natural state. Though generally, a Soul Armour Knight has no problem dealing with mere magicians and other magical races, against beings such as Hellions and other Soul Armour Knights, they require much more than 'stab it/kick it/punch it until it goes down'. Thus, the Limit Breaks come into play. It gathers their fighting spirit and transforms it into power, unleashing a single attack with no equal aside from other Limit Breaks. As Gaiki Logos, Tsuruko has access to an enhanced version of the Rocket Punch referred to as Big Bang Rocket Punch (全見千億・無限伸縮自在拳, Biggu Ban Roketto Panchi lit. Hundred Billion Omnidirectional Infinite Telescoping Fists), where she launches her gauntlet and fist off of her limb like a rocket in order to smash the opponent with extreme prejudice; however, the Infinity Rocket Punch targets the opponent's existence regardless of their locality and temporality in the universe, causing the rocket fist to multiply to an innumerable number of gauntlets, smashing the enemy at every point in space and time.
Gaiki Kai is the successor unit of the Gaiki Soul Armour, created after Gaiki was destroyed at the climax of Daybreak S2. Gaiki Kai first appears in the Daybreak S3 chapter, Take Off, Tsuruko! Gaiki Kai is Born! (翔びたてツルコ！ 凱輝・改誕生！ Tobitate Tsuruko! Gaiki Kai Tanjō!).
— Tsuruko's activation phrase and the Phoenix Driver's transformation announcement for the Gaiki Kai Soul Armour.
Soul Armour Knight Gaiki Kai (神鎧纏最高戦士 ・凱輝・改, Sōru Āmā Naito Gaiki Kai lit. God Armour Clad Supreme Warrior Shining Victory Revised) is the successor unit of the Gaiki Soul Armour and Tsuruko Sejren's Soul Armour in Daybreak S3 and beyond. Gaiki Kai is fairly sleek and lightly-coloured, mainly in light blues and golds, with a little bit of black in prominent portions of the armour. The armour has slightly spiked shoulderpads, which have gilded edges; the arms consist of golden sections in the middle, and an emerald blade attached to each elbow, enabling close-range combat. The chest armour is pointed towards the front, with golden pumps wrapped around the waist and a black breastplate that has a golden vent on each side. The boots of the armour are pointed upwards at the toes for unarmed attacks. The dark blue helmet has a large fin jutting backwards, along with two smaller white antennae attached to the ears and a red visor. Lastly, Gaiki Kai is in possession of two large blue and white wings. The original Gaiki Kai was purely white in terms of its main colour scheme, but after Tsuruko replaced its Drive Gem with Gaiki's, it gained a blue tint to it. Like the original Gaiki and Magatsu, Gaiki Kai also emits fighting spirit directly for propulsion and the transparent purple parts on its body seem to be for storing fighting spirit for later emission. As Gaiki was the very first Soul Armour and thus the prototype to the rest, it was riddled with numerous flaws that were only smoothed over whenever Tsuruko, the Qualified of Gaiki, utilized it; or rather, as the prototype, nearly every other Soul Armour was more advanced than Gaiki. Indeed, after creating Gaiki, Dzerve developed an advanced version of Gaiki, called Gaiki Kai (凱輝・改, Gaiki Kai; Revised Shining Victory); its creation started in the same time period as its predecessor, was behind schedule and could not be completed in time due to technical limitations in developing the Daybreak System. Furthermore, development was influenced by the Cataclysm War and data regarding existing development on the Soul Armour, was to be sealed. Gaiki Kai remained an incomplete Soul Armour until Devius was unsealed; as the incomplete Soul Armour and blueprints were stolen by Gary later, who also deleted the data from Klaus' lab.
Redevelopment of Gaiki Kai was carried out by Giselle Mercury, based on the operational data of Gaiki. In fact, Gaiki Kai was redesigned and modified on the basis that it would become Tsuruko's new Soul Armour after the destruction of Gaiki during Tsuruko's battle with Arc at the end of the Nega End Crisis. Giselle designed it as her magnum opus in terms of weaponry- it is one of a kind. Giselle based the design of Gaiki Kai from Dzerve's original version of the Soul Armour, though Gaiki Kai was attuned to specifically match Tsuruko's fighting style. Giselle also combined the design with her experience with creating Soul Armours and the knowledge obtained from the Book of the Black History. Gaiki Kai is a mixture of all three major types- the Prototypes, the New Generations, and the Symbiote Soul Armours, and could be seen as a "perfect" Soul Armour. Upon Tsuruko's first contact with the Soul Armour's belt, she visions its character as a fire bird (a phoenix). Harnessing its power for the first time, the colour of the Soul Armour was a stark white, similar to a Proto-form. This was due to a crack in the belt's Drive Gem, leading Tsuruko to be unable to adopt it, since she felt that Gaiki Kai was not a part of her yet. After Giselle replaced the Drive Gem with Gaiki's, which Tsuruko kept after the belt's destruction, Gaiki was resurrected as its upgraded form which remained with her until the end of Daybreak S3, even reappearing alongside Tsuruko in Dusk. Gaiki Kai, even in its base form, is astoundingly powerful; compared to the original Gaiki, Gaiki Kai has lost some of its physical might from Infinity Mode, but is far more flexible than Gaiki's Super Mode and still performs better compared other Soul Armours. In addition, Gaiki Kai is far faster than a Survive Mode in its base state. All in all, Gaiki Kai is about on the same level as a Super Mode in its base state. As a contrast to any other Soul Armour, which have pre-set abilities programmed in by their wielders, Gaiki Kai's power is based entirely on Tsuruko's fighting spirit, therefore giving its capabilities the room to increase exponentially; it is modifying itself to better suit Tsuruko's mechanical abilities—for example, the wrists of the armour are separate from the gauntlets, allowing Tsuruko to launch her Rocket Punch finisher without putting strain on the armour. Overall, Gaiki Kai, when compared to its predecessor, received an enormous overhaul, through which the Soul Armour was tuned to deepen the link between the movement of the Soul Armour and the wielder's own senses using a "Spirit Link" system - instead of being designed for Dzerve Sejren's utilization, Gaiki Kai was attuned to Tsuruko's own strengths and weaknesses, making it her personal Soul Armour, and as such, other than Tsuruko, no other fighter can bring out this Soul Armour's full power. Designed for melee combat, Gaiki Kai can use the Ardor Sabers attached to its arms during close range battle in addition to Tsuruko's martial arts techniques with the same proficiency she had with the original Gaiki, only vastly more powerful in terms of speed, strength, and area-of-effect. Unlike Gaiki, Gaiki Kai can emit the Ardor Flame effects from its back even without using a Limit Break, and these effects can be launched as fireballs or large fists of flame at her enemies.
Gaiki Kai's design focuses on mobility rather than armour strength as Tsuruko is rarely hit, and as the zero shields can overcome the defensive fragility. As a result, the armour of Gaiki Kai is split into smaller pieces to improve the movement range of the joints. The arm parts of Gaiki Kai were made to allow Gaiki Kai to wield it's close combat weapons to the fullest. The wrist joints were made to be so flexible that they actually could move like a human arm. The splitting parts allow Tsuruko's Ardor to be transferred to the weapons more smoothly and effectively than any other Soul Armour. The leg parts of Gaiki Kai have built in Active Mass Balance Auto-Control capabilities to allow it to achieve high maneuverability in zero-G conditions. The knee joints of Gaiki Kai were made to be as fluid in motion as a real human knee, with Ardor condensers located in them, also improved. Some parts of the legs were developed from Phenex, as Giselle noted that her Soul Armour was slightly faster than Gaiki, while other parts bore massive improvements to the original parts from Gaiki. To compensate for exposing more of its internal parts, the armour's internal skeleton allows Tsuruko to emit the Zero Effect from the openings, nullifying any and all supernatural-based attacks against her. When the internal skeleton zero effect, Gaiki Kai possesses human flexibility and through its glowing effect, is able to discharge excess residual fighting spirit within the body through the joints. While the body armour of this Soul Armour is light, it is designed to most effectively fend off the impacts of being shot by a greater use of curved surfaces. However, the main contributor to the Soul Armour's superior mobility is the wings, which can be deployed in the "Super Mobility Aerial Tactic Mode" (スーパー・モビリティ・エアリアル・タクティック・モード, Sūpā Mobiriti Eariaru Takutikku Mōdo) to enhance the armour's mobility in the atmosphere or in space. The wings also feature a variant of the FTL Light Wing System of the Phenex Soul Armour, which can generate a visual effect called the "Wings of the Skies" (天空の翼, Tenkū no Tsubasa), to be used as a means of high speed movement that surpasses the "Accellight" movement speed of Photon Dragon Slayer Magic and Lunar Dragon Slayer Magic. When in battle, Gaiki Kai is able to see a transformed opponent's human form and every single attack causes Tsuruko's opponent to bleed, despite the enemy's powerful defenses - a good example of this is when Tsuruko's normal punches managed to inflict lasting damage upon Devius, directly ignoring his nanomachine defenses, whereas even an exalt such as Jonas was unable to break through said nanomachines. All in all, with Gaiki Kai, Tsuruko is the most powerful character in the entire Sun Trilogy.
Gaiki Kai's theme is titled "New Dimension Overlord Style"; it is a remix of Gaiki's "Clear and Serene" and Gaiki Infinity's "These Hands of Mine Shine with a Roar".
Arms Weapon: Gaikiken Kai (甲気拳・改, Armoured Spirit Fist Revised): The Gaikiken is the name of Gaiki Kai's Arms Weapon. Normally, Tsuruko channels the Ardor meant for use in an Arms Weapon into the remainder of her body in order to boost the area of effect released by her attacks, allowing her to remain empty-handed; originally, this was because of her strong will to avoid fighting and connect with other people allows her to join hands with others since she has no weapon to hold in her hands. However, during the Allies of Justice arc, Tsuruko manifests her Arms Weapon in a fit of anger towards Charlotte Merquise, her old friend whom attacked Excellen. Originally a sword when Gaiki is in its Incomplete Form for all other users, when Tsuruko manifests the Arms Weapon, they take the form of two oversized war gauntlets with silver and red fingers and fingertips respectively, along with two red 'G' symbols on the tops and bases of the gauntlets. The gauntlets cover half of her lower arms at their normal size and her whole lower arms when she increases their size. The Gaikiken Kai possess piston-like structures which can be "fired" to add more force to her punches and jumps; in addition to being capable of being used as a delivery system for her Zero Effect. The Gaikiken Kai are easily capable of smashing through Orichalcum, which was said to be unbreakable, as well as the scales of a Dragon (or at least a dragon-blooded human), as shown when Tsuruko shattered Charlotte's Dragonar Mode armour in a single leaping uppercut. Another thing the gauntlets are shown to do are enhance Tsuruko's punches to the point that she was capable of unleashing a straight punch that knocked several saints off of their feet, while also blowing away the top half of a mountain. Due to her dislike of weapons, Gaiki Kai's Arms Weapon only makes brief appearances, only really being put to use when Tsuruko stops cracking jokes and ceases pulling her punches.
Arms Weapon: Daybreak Smasher (デイブレイク・スマッシャー), Deibureiku Sumasshā): Daybreak Smasher is the combined form of four other Prototype Soul Armours affixed upon the Gaikiken Kai. In order to destroy the Signa Beast, even the seven Super Modes were unable to decently damage the thing. Putting their hope in Tsuruko; Excellen, Kirika, Deen and Charlotte threw their belts to Tsuruko, whom wrapped them around her arms, transforming her Gaikiken Kai Arms Weapon into gigantic gauntlets with multiple traits of the absorbed Soul Armours, such as Zero's fangs serving as knuckle dusters, Airgetlam's wings working as flight stabilizers, Tachys' boosters functioning as speed enhancers, and Eternal's arm blades attaching to the sides to boost attack power. The Daybreak Smasher is the embodiment of the feelings of those throughout the dimensions, wishing for victory, converging in the shape of a fist. However, the Daybreak Smasher is formed by discarding defense, allowing Tsuruko to respond with an intensive volley of maximum firepower. The Daybreak Smasher was capable of drilling a hole through the Signa Beast with ease, whereas five individual Super Mode users were unable to properly put the beast down beforehand.
The Ardor Sabers attached to Gaiki Kai's forearms.
Ardor Saber (闘気光剣, Arudā Seibā lit. Fighting Spirit Light Sword): Gaiki Kai, like all Stride Soul Armours, has a pair of secondary armaments attached to the armour's arms. The Ardor Sabers, more specifically, are emerald blades longer than her forearms attached to each of the gauntlets, enabling close-range combat; interestingly, the Ardor Sabers lodged in Gaiki Kai's elbow armour resemble the Airgetlam Soul Armour's Shining Caliber when Kirika Hotsuin, the wielder, is performing the Vega Slash Limit Break. In any case, the Ardor Saber is capable of an indeterminate amount of sharpness through a combination of extremely high oscillation rates and temperatures induced through Tsuruko's fighting spirit in order to increase the cutting effectiveness of the weapons, thus this leads to the emerald blades shining golden; creating a superheated cutting surface that has enhanced penetration on the target; indeed, the sword emits a temporary fiery effect when unsheathed. As the fighting spirit changes to heat, the heat is transferred to whatever is in contact at the moment. With this feature, it is theoretically possible to attack at high temperatures that cannot be endured by any mortal being. The Ardor Sabers' sharp cutting edges are further enhanced by the use of laser technology. While normally, Tsuruko can utilize the Ardor Sabers as unarmed blow-enhancers by slashing the opponent with the weapons lodged in the gauntlets along with punching them, she is also capable of flipping them forward to align with her fist and face her target. The Ardor Sabers emit small electron impulse vibrations, which can disrupt other fighting spirit-based weaponry. Although the Ardor Sabers are already sharp uncharged, still being capable of tearing through even Soul Metal to deal piercing damage, and can be used without the laser systems, their effectiveness is increased even further when charged.
Impact Hike (インパクト・ハイク, Inpakuto Haiku): This is a special ability of the Power Jacks that are attached to the legs of Gaiki Kai; a holdover from the original Gaiki. Mainly the Power Jack is used when falling from high altitudes as a damper to alleviate damage from impact, however it can also be used to create a burst of acceleration or amplify the power of kicking attacks; more specifically, the wielder's Victorize Kick Limit Break. The shockwave it produces can also be used to "kick in" the air which allows Tsuruko to move through the air in a limited capacity. The energy consumption of this move is much larger than it appears, however, and considering the cost and risk involved it was never sanctioned as a proper usage of the equipment. In the final chapters of Daybreak S2, by channeling the energy created through pushing the depth of her fusion to the limit, Tsuruko was able to use this technique consecutively in coordination with her vernier thrusters to raise her maneuverability to equal terms with Arc's ionocraft ability, thereby unfolding a faux dog fight in the skies. Gaiki Kai's Power Jacks have the ability to distort time and space, granting Gaiki Kai increased speed and maneuverability, which can be employed to induce the phenomenon of Quantization when Tsuruko is in Survive Mode, allowing FTL teleportation.
G-Circular (Ｇ・サーキュラー, G-Sākyurā): The G-Circular is a special system built into the Gaiki Armour; it takes the form of the silver rivets and chestplate of the Gaiki Armour; as well as the miniature holes on the arms and legs of the armour. The G-Circular has small exhaust ports at the ends of its rivets, enabling it to dissipate excess heat as the exhaust ports serve the function of numerous cooling ducts and heat sinks. However, its true purpose is to channel the Zero Effect through the body of the Gaiki Armour, drastically enhancing Tsuruko's potential in combat. Although its full capabilities are unknown, its primary purpose is to allow Tsuruko to more easily control the Zero Effect via mental commands. The G-Circular can also have a rather surprising side effect when Tsuruko is mentally and emotionally focused enough (usually when angry or upset); causing the G-Circular to amplify the power, speed, and strength of Gaiki Kai for a short period of time; when this happens, purple-coloured beam blades are emitted from all G-Circular units spread around the frame. These beams allow Gaiki Kai's close-range attack, defense as well as its speed and mobility to be drastically increased by ten times its designated specifications.
The Kourin Seekers of Rosa Dimaggio's Stardust Dragonar Knight Form, manifested by Gaiki Kai.
Kourin Seekers (コウリン・シーカ, Kōrin Shīka): The Kourin Seekers were absorbed from Rosa Dimaggio's Dragonar Mode during Tsuruko's battle with her in Daybreak S1, and only in S3 manifested as a supplementary armament for Gaiki Kai. They are numerous drones remote-controlled by Tsuruko's thoughts, taking the form of numerous blades formed from zero energy, albeit different than her Zero Blades. A total of 6 Large and 8 Small such seekers are materialized. The Large Seekers can also be used as solid combat blades for melee combat as well. The Kourin Seekers also have the ability to generate a unique shield of zero energy, known as a "shining barrier", to provide a defense with lower outputs compared to the light shield's magic consumption. Although these seekers prove incredibly effective and flexible in purpose, they are also large, making them easy to be destroyed. The Kourin Seekers can be attached to the Gaikiken Kai to form an enormous arm blade for combat. For added defense, Tsuruko can deploy a force field by placing the six Kourin Seekers in a closed spherical formation; and she herself can attack outside of this sphere; leaving her essentially invulnerable. This sphere serves as an almost impenetrable shield; only the most powerful weapons are capable of breaching it, and even then, damage to Tsuruko is generally minimal. Rather than traditional force-fields, it behaves more like membranes and twist and tear as such when it is penetrated. The shield is difficult to break and serves as a protection from outside forces, stronger with the emotion or memory that was used to create it. Notably, a positive force can destroy it utterly. The Kourin Seeker Barrier can also be used to form a massive light spike, which is even able to stab through another lightwave barrier. They also possess many attacking roles, such as attacking individually; and when positioned together in a circle, they can form a barrier of light or aid in teleportation by grouping into a circular, portal-like formation, using a thick saturation of light as a gateway. The Kourin Seekers have been further enhanced by Giselle, and Tsuruko is now able to more freely position Gaiki Kai's weapons in various angles and engage multiple targets from multiple directions if needed to. This is a considerable improvement over the Infinity Mode version's single forward-direction attacking; now giving Gaiki Kai a full three hundred and sixty degree attack range.
Soul Armour Knight Gaiki Kai Survive Mode in Waverider Mode.
Soul Armour Knight Gaiki Kai Destroy Mode in Waverider Mode.
Mode Change: Waverider (モード・チェンジ・ウェーブライダー, Mōdo Chenji: Uēburaidā): The Waverider is a special ability unique to the Gaiki Kai Soul Armour; it is a Mode Change. When transforming into the Waverider state, the Soul Armour's waist rotates backward, the legs fold up with the feet pointing backward, the shoulder pads fold close, the hands retract inside the forearms, and the Ardor Sabers fold over the forearms. The wings move to the sides and spread open, and the head retracts. Finally, the chestplate extends forward to become a nose. In this form, having become a high-speed jet, Gaiki Kai is granted incredible speed, being capable of high-speed flight travel within the atmosphere. The Ardor Sabers, in Waverider Mode, can serve as beam machine guns, launching beams of fighting spirit at Tsuruko's opponents. Something special about Gaiki Kai's Waverider Mode is that it can be utilized in any of the Soul Armour's forms, with each version of the Waverider Mode taking upon the traits of Gaiki Kai's upgraded forms, such as allowing light-speed teleportation in Survive Mode, and becoming a moving maelstrom of destruction in Destroy Mode. Tsuruko can also use the Waverider Mode to ram into an opponent in a move dubbed Waverider Break (ウェーブライダー・ブレーク, Uēburaidā Burēku).
Tsuruko as Gaiki Kai transforming from Bakken Mode to Survive Mode.
Daybreak System (デイブレイク・システム, Deibureiku Shisutemu): The Daybreak System is Gaiki Kai's trump card. Unlike other Soul Armours that only harness the power of Ardor upon their exterior to assist them in fighting, Gaiki Kai has the unique function of being able to utilize Ardor in its internal components through the Daybreak System. Ardor normally interacts with the exterior of the Soul Armour. The Daybreak System, which uses that fighting spirit to strengthen the inside of the armour, is an original concept created by Giselle, completely changed from Dzerve's original idea for the system. Indeed, it could be considered slightly similar to the Limit Break function in that it enables an overwhelming power, but other than that, the two are completely different. By having Ardor saturate Gaiki Kai's frame in and out in response to strong feelings, Tsuruko can control her movements better and maximize her Soul Armour's output. Doing so can increase the armour's overall performance and bring out its full potential. It is also possible to concentrate the power in specific internal components to increase their physical strength. When in use, the Daybreak System renders a glowing hue on the entire armour. When exposed and/or influenced by powerful feelings due to the Daybreak System, Gaiki Kai is capable of temporarily taking more powerful alternate forms. Unfortunately, the power-up changes have never been permanent. After expending its energies, the armour reverts to its normal form. This function was created because of Tsuruko's love of shiny power-ups. Utilizing the Daybreak System, Gaiki Kai initially has access to two alternate modes, the speed-based azure Survive Mode (サバイブ・モード, Sabaibu Mōdo), and the power-based scarlet Destroy Mode (デストロイ・モード, Desutoroi Mōdo). After absorbing Gaiki Dáinsleif, Tsuruko can also access a jet-black all-rounder powered up form called Bakken Mode (バッケン・モード, Bakken Mōdo) that combines the strength of both forms. Of course, Tsuruko is capable of combining all three forms to manifest the illustrious golden Hyper Mode (ハイパー・モード, Haipā Mōdo), which an evolution of the normal Super Mode.
Limit Break (必殺技, Rimitto Bureiku lit. Finishing Move): A Limit Break is the "ultimate attack" (絶招, Zesshō) of a Soul Armour—they are extremely powerful attacks enabled via the user taking damage in some way. When the user takes enough damage to gain an enormous amount of energy, they may perform a Limit Break. The user gains more energy to perform a Limit Break as they get angrier, and foes push them to their limits, the user unleashes an "unimaginable power". When the user's fighting spirit rises to its ultimate limit, for a short while it aligns with and emits from the user's body, allowing powerful abilities that cannot be performed in a natural state. Though generally, a Soul Armour Knight has no problem dealing with mere magicians and other magical races, against beings such as Hellions and other Soul Armour Knights, they require much more than 'stab it/kick it/punch it until it goes down'. Thus, the Limit Breaks come into play. It gathers their fighting spirit and transforms it into power, unleashing a single attack with no equal aside from other Limit Breaks. As Gaiki Kai, Tsuruko's Limit Breaks are the Victorize Kick (閃光魔術蹴り, Bikutāraizu Kikku lit. Flashing Magical Kick), where she descends with a flying jump kick while engulfed in her fighting spirit or the Zero Effect, and the Rocket Punch (無限伸縮自在拳, Roketto Panchi lit. Infinite Telescoping Fist), where she launches her gauntlet and fist off of her limb like a rocket in order to smash the opponent with extreme prejudice. She can also use the Chaser Smash (流星拳打, Cheisā Sumasshu lit. Meteor Fist Barrage), where Tsuruko's fighting spirit causes the G-Circular to expel flames, as Tsuruko drifts towards the enemy and trips them up into the air. Afterwards, she unleashes a barrage of rapid punches onto the falling target, making an image of a speedometer appear from the resulting series of punches. Alternatively, Tsuruko can skip the tripping portion of her attack and go immediately to its punching portion.Together, Tsuruko/Gaiki Kai and Excellen/Eternal are capable of performing the Double Limit Break called Twin Knight Smasher (ツイン・ナイト・スマッシャー, Tsuin Naito Sumasshā), where the gauntlets of Gaiki Kai and Eternal morph into larger versions, grabbing ahold of one another, before shooting off of the arms of the two knights, spinning into the opponent at astounding speeds. One of Gaiki Kai's original Limit Breaks is known as Daybreak Impact (デイブレイク・インパクト), Deibureiku Inpakuto), a zero-point sublimation blast from the shoulder cannons that generates infinite heat and pressure. Gaiki Kai is one of the few Soul Armours with no special attack of its own except the Daybreak Impact; as Tsuruko mainly relies on Victorize Kick, Chaser Smash, and Rocket Punch, both a holdover from the original Gaiki.
Survive Mode (サバイブ・モード, Sabaibu Mōdo): Survive Mode is the term pertaining to Soul Armours that have unlocked a much more powerful form. Normally, the Survive Mode is activated by scanning the Survive Rings (サバイブ・リング, Sabaibu Ringu) over the Driver Belts, causing the Soul Armours to undergo a specific evolution exclusive to themselves, more often than not resulting in a sleeker form. The Survive Rings were developed to the blueprint stage but never constructed, as it were considered too powerful for any user; and later on, Giselle Mercury managed to stabilize them with help from her father, who added his own exalted magical power into the rings. The Survive Modes offer drastically enhanced parameters, which are actually the user's powers boosted to their absolute limits. However, Gaiki Kai's Survive Mode is completely different than any other iteration of the form- thanks to the Daybreak System, Tsuruko is capable of activating Survive Mode just by imagining herself becoming the form; this causes Gaiki Kai to turn a lighter azure, significantly boosting its speed to the point that it appears to be constantly teleporting. What should be noted that there is a time lag of half a second when Tsuruko initiates Survive Mode- giving her opponents time to get the jump on her. In addition, because this version of Gaiki Kai is constantly shedding paper-thin parts of its armour, it is fairly vulnerable. The weakness of that Survive Mode is stamina itself. Using it involves consuming great amounts of stamina, causing Tsuruko to only be capable of utilizing it for thirty seconds at most. In Survive Mode, Gaiki Kai's speed can wreak havoc on the battlefield, piercing through the enemy lines and smashing everything in between. Essentially, the Survive Mode allows Gaiki Kai to move at ten times beyond the speed of sound for usually ten seconds, her physical attacks also become twice as strong and she can perform a new variety of her regular finishing techniques.
Tsuruko as Gaiki Kai in Survive Mode utilizing its super speed.
Ultra-Speed Combat: From the moment that she activates Survive Mode, Tsuruko compresses her power into a small, condensed form, and uses the power of the form in order to perform high-speed combat; hitting the peak of her speed when she focuses. Her new speed enhances her movements a hundredfold, allowing her to create dozens of afterimages to confuse her opponent. When in Survive Style, Gaiki Kai generates excessive amounts of heat, before dissipating the excess heat by shedding the outer layers of the armour; to onlookers, it seems as if Tsuruko utilizes some form of Teleportation Magic; creating multiple afterimages made up of metallic particles while enabling her to move at even higher speeds than before. As the afterimages are composed of metallic particles; they contain mass, and with her Zero Effect, Tsuruko can install one movement into them the moment they are formed, such as an attack or defense in order to assault her foe. Even if someone could detect her trajectory, it is near impossible to catch her. It can be theorized that Tsuruko can keep up this speed as long as she wishes. By focusing this power into a single leg, Tsuruko can launch a much faster kick with much greater impact. Tsuruko's speed appears to create up to fifteen doubles of herself while in motion. These doubles are not illusory; Tsuruko is moving at a speed between different positions that is faster than the speed of sound. As such, were all the doubles to attack at once, it would mean that Tsuruko is attacking from all those positions simultaneously, giving her incredible destructive power. Similarly, because of this same speed, attacking the doubles would be futile as Tsuruko would have moved long before the attack even reaches her. Essentially, because of this power, Gaiki Kai in Survive Mode has extreme high speed and maneuverability, along with unlimited bursts of accelerations; increasing amount of thrust produced. It should be noted that the expansion of this energy produces an azure sphere of power that is solidified fighting spirit, causing it to become essentially an energy ball that surrounds her as she moves. Tsuruko mainly utilizes this to fly in like a meteor, dealing damage as she moves.
Tsuruko as Gaiki Kai in Survive Mode utilizing its super speed to teleport around Gaiki Dáinsleif.
Quantization (光速瞬間移動, Kuontizēshon lit. Faster than Light Teleportation): Quantization is an extension of Survive Mode's super speed. As Gaiki Kai possesses the same Power Jacks as the original Gaiki, Tsuruko can harness their power to grant high speed in a far greater capability. Gaiki Kai's Power Jacks have the ability to distort time and space, granting Gaiki Kai increased speed and maneuverability as well as short-range teleportation, as Tsuruko releases extremely high purified concentrations of her fighting spirit; and in that instant burst, her fighting spirit envelops her and reduces her body to elementary particles; contacting the space-time continuum in the location that she wishes to appear in; after that, she is instantaneously reassembled in said location, literally teleporting. Using this ability, Tsuruko is capable of traveling over various distances in an instant, even in the midst of battle. In dire situations when an enemy target is about to fatally hit Tsuruko, she is capable of instantly jumping away and flanking her enemy's position (usually several meters from behind or side). Quantization itself leaves a particle shadow of Tsuruko fooling the enemy with the image of a false victorious blow. The maneuver often leaves the opponent confused and distracted long enough for Tsuruko to do serious damage and/or defeat her enemy targets. In addition, Tsuruko can use it to travel extremely great distances, such as across dimensions, thereby functioning as a real FTL transportation mechanism.
Destroy Mode (デストロイ・モード, Desutoroi Mōdo): Destroy Mode is an alternate form of Gaiki Kai, serving as a polar opposite to the agility-based Survive Mode. Thanks to the Daybreak System, Tsuruko is capable of activating Destroy Mode just by imagining herself becoming the form; this causes Gaiki Kai to turn a deep crimson. In this form, Gaiki Kai's offensive parameters shoot right through the roof, turning the Soul Armour into a fast-moving whirlwind of destruction. In this form, Tsuruko has greatly increased punching and kicking power, though she loses a bit of her maximum jumping height and running speed as a result compared to Survive Mode. Destroy Mode is a specialized melee combat form and the arms and legs of the form emit a numerous amount of beam blades from the G-Circular ports. These beam blades are combined with Destroy Mode's powerful strength to destroy the enemy, allowing it to perform devastating physical attacks, consistently demonstrating overwhelming combat power that combines offense and defense. By releasing the system's limiter, Destroy Mode can enter a "maximum output" mode, where scarlet-colored beam blades are emitted from all twenty-eight G-Circular docks spread around the frame, essentially allowing Gaiki Kai in Destroy Mode to devastate almost anything that it touches; because of the form's design, Tsuruko uses a combination of the Ardor Field and the Beam Blade Emitters to defeat her enemies either with raw power or by generating red energy tires to kick at the target.
Tsuruko as Gaiki Kai in Destroy Mode utilizing its permanent Ardor Field.
Ardor Field (闘気結界, Arudā Fīrudo lit. Fighting Spirit Bounded Field): The Ardor Field is a personalized barrier created by Soul Armours when transforming. The Ardor Field is created by concentrating enough fighting spirit within a local area of space. The willpower is shaped and focused into a spherical form for full defensive coverage over the Soul Armour; however, the field itself is not restricted to spherical forms. The field itself can wrap around any shape or size, so long as the necessary amount of particles can form around the surface it was generated/formed over. When the Ardor Field is in use, the fighting spirit manifests in a personalized barrier of any shape- according to the user's will; the fighting spirit is dense enough to resist intense temperatures, and it can physically repel and stop almost any attack for the short duration of time in which it is active. The Ardor Field surrounds the Soul Armour and reduces the power of any oncoming attacks to zero. When combined with the Soul Armour System's ability to drastically lessen the effects of magic, it enables the user can act freely without fear of the opponent's offensive or defensive capabilities. The Ardor Field does not function only on a sole individual, rather by using the Soul Armour as a base, the barrier effect extends around the vicinity. The range of the coating is dependent upon the reach of the willpower produced by the armour and any magician within that range will suffer an alteration that suppresses their ability to cast magic. However, because the barrier is created through the user's willpower, a weak point is created as the Ardor Field is gradually reduced the further one gets from the user. But even though this effect decays over distance, even at the very edge of its range it will not completely disappear, so from a tactical standpoint it is possible to safely position auxiliary support. In the case of Gaiki Kai, a glowing red barrier in the shape of an aura of energy manifests around the body of the armour, this protects it from damage and turns it into a powerful weapon which can destroy large targets by just flying through them. The Ardor Field also raises Tsuruko's combat capabilities to an incredible degree. However, using this ability can overload the Phoenix Driver if the the Drive Gem begins to glow black. Once the system maxes out and the Drive Gem turns black, Tsuruko will lose control over her actions.
Bakken Mode (バッケン・モード, Bakken Mōdo): Bakken Mode is Gaiki Kai's black-textured alternate form that is the combination of Gaiki Kai's Survive Mode and Destroy Mode—it adds up the strengths of each individual forms, doubles their power, and eliminates their weaknesses; Bakken Mode is Gaiki Kai's Super Mode. It was awoken when Gaiki Kai absorbed Gaiki Dáinsleif after their final battle, finally becoming whole once more after Gaiki's Drive Gem was split in half during the events of Infinity Future; the other half of which was utilized to create Gaiki Dáinsleif. Due to absorbing the Black Soul Armour that was partially corrupted by Camilla's evil intent, it was said that using Bakken Mode could be extremely dangerous; as Tsuruko would supposedly lose control and become a monster bent on killing everything in its way. However, due to Tsuruko's gentle nature; she retains her will, retaining the Red Eye (レッド・アイ, Reddo Ai) colour of the Gaiki series as opposed to the Green Eye (グリーン・アイ, Gurīn Ai) colour of Gaiki Dáinsleif.
In terms of Gaiki Kai's forms, this form easily outclasses most others. In basic performance specs alone, Bakken Mode's punching power measures two tonnes heavier than Destroy Mode, with kicking power also measuring two point four tons heavier than the aforementioned form; while Survive Mode does maintain superiority in regards to speed and jumping ability, Bakken Mode is capable of comparable super speed combat; being only less than half a second slower than Survive Mode's top speed. The fighting spirit of the inner frame allows Bakken Mode possess near human flexibility and through its glowing effect, is able to discharge excess residual energy within the body through the markings in its shoulders as streams of energy. Other abilities that Bakken Mode can use, which are inherited from Gaiki Dáinsleif, include advanced energy shielding, which generates a purple bubble-like protective area around Tsuruko that is capable of deflecting Armourize-class energy attacks, and utilizing the smaller tires under her feet as a pair of roller skates. To assist Tsuruko in regulating and switching between the Soul Armour's abilities, Gaiki Kai: Bakken Mode's systems are governed by the Laplace's demon computer, a mysterious computer sought-after by the various factions for its ability to predict the future; however, it should be noted that the computer isn't based in the demon of Laplace, but in his theory. Under extreme circumstances, the Laplace demon's computer can interface with Tsuruko's soul and that of Dzerve Sejren and Chakravartin, whom she has absorbed at this point, gaining the power to harness Chakravartin's Infinity Effect and Dzerve's ability to reconfigure Soul Armours on the fly, enhancing Gaiki Kai: Bakken Mode's power to its fullest, giving Tsuruko the ability to access to the Akashic Records and gain control over the Principle of Cause and Effect.
Peak Physical Powers: As Bakken Mode, Tsuruko's attributes are drastically enhanced; because, with a simple swing of her fist, Tsuruko is capable of manifesting a violent tremor that obliterates the ground it comes into contact with and knock her foes away; in addition, her blows are positively overwhelming and can be bone-shattering. The sudden boost in strength upon activating the form allows Tsuruko to break free from any attack which binds her or prevents her from moving. She can grab a blade with her bare hand without feeling any of the exerted force, though said force could do considerable damage to the surrounding area. In addition, her endurance has been upped significantly; enabling her to receive damage like it was nothing and ignore all senses of pain—though it should be noted that this varies on the factor of how powerful the blow is. Finally, Tsuruko's naturally immense swiftness is augmented to the point that she forgoes any need for speed-enhancing techniques, enabling her to outstrip almost anyone in a contest of pure speed. What is interesting to note is that Bakken Mode enhances all of Tsuruko's moves, greatly increasing their area-of-effect as well as improving their damage. All of Tsuruko's attributes are being pushed to their peak, generally making Bakken Mode the strongest form, with the exception of Gaiki the Great.
Victorize Banking (騎力かき混ぜる, Bikutāraizu Bankingu lit. Knight Power Blending): Victorize Banking is the name of Gaiki Kai Bakken Mode's Knight Power; it allows her to utilize all of the Knight Powers and attributes of the previous iterations of Gaiki. In order to activate the Victorize Banking, Tsuruko turns the Drive Lever before running her hand over the Drive Gem, focusing her fighting spirit, which allows her to use the G-Circular expel flames of fighting spirit, which empowers Gaiki Kai with a power of one of Gaiki's previous iterations of her choice. With multiple powers to focus on, Tsuruko can conjure the power of one of Gaiki's previous iterations to use or augment the power of one with a similar power, such as giving her Rocket Punches a burning element thanks to Gaiki Violent Emotion's Burning Emotion power. She can also summon any of her DB Armaments and Arms Weapons to her hands simply by thought. In addition, Tsuruko can combine three powers of a particular set into a singular power with the unique abilities of the chosen Knight Powers for immediate and simultaneous use. Optionally, Tsuruko can delay combining the Knight Powers by launching them as projections of Gaiki's previous forms that are capable of attacking the enemy using several of Tsuruko's attack. When required, each projection is capable of instantly shifting its position in a teleportation-like manner, before returning back to complete the Victorize Banking process.
Tsuruko as Gaiki Kai Bakken Mode aiming the Rocket Punch Limit Break.
Limit Break (必殺技, Rimitto Bureiku lit. Finishing Move): A Limit Break is the "ultimate attack" (絶招, Zesshō) of a Soul Armour—they are extremely powerful attacks enabled via the user taking damage in some way. When the user takes enough damage to gain an enormous amount of energy, they may perform a Limit Break. The user gains more energy to perform a Limit Break as they get angrier, and foes push them to their limits, the user unleashes an "unimaginable power". When the user's fighting spirit rises to its ultimate limit, for a short while it aligns with and emits from the user's body, allowing powerful abilities that cannot be performed in a natural state. Though generally, a Soul Armour Knight has no problem dealing with mere magicians and other magical races, against beings such as Hellions and other Soul Armour Knights, they require much more than 'stab it/kick it/punch it until it goes down'. Thus, the Limit Breaks come into play. It gathers their fighting spirit and transforms it into power, unleashing a single attack with no equal aside from other Limit Breaks. As every iteration of Gaiki, Tsuruko's Limit Breaks are the Victorize Kick (閃光魔術蹴り, Bikutāraizu Kikku lit. Flashing Magical Kick), where she descends with a flying jump kick while engulfed in her fighting spirit or the Zero Effect- this iteration of the Limit Break forms a projection of Gaiki Kai's Survive Mode and Destroy Mode, which flank Bakken Mode's sides as Tsuruko lands the strike, and the Rocket Punch (無限伸縮自在拳, Roketto Panchi lit. Infinite Telescoping Fist), where she launches her gauntlet and fist off of her limb like a rocket in order to smash the opponent with extreme prejudice- the Rocket Punch released by Bakken Mode is shown to be capable of extending up into lunar orbit, travelling around until it scores a hit then proceed to orbit the planet twice before coming back down without ever detaching from Tsuruko's arm, or her moving a single inch from where she's standing. Gaiki also has another punching Limit Break called the Chaser Smash (流星拳打, Cheisā Sumasshu lit. Meteor Fist Barrage), where Tsuruko's fighting spirit causes the G-Circular to expel flames, as Tsuruko drifts towards the enemy and trips them up into the air. Afterwards, she unleashes a barrage of rapid punches onto the falling target, making an image of a speedometer appear from the resulting series of punches.
— Tsuruko's activation phrase, as well as Gaiki's activation chant for Gaiki the Great.
Gaiki the Great (ガイキ・ザ・グレート, Gaiki za Gurēto): Gaiki the Great, also referred to as the Supreme Warrior (最高戦士, Saikō Senshi), is the ultimate form of Gaiki, a "Super Mode of the Super Mode" - or rather, that is to say, it is the Gaiki Soul Armour's original form. Gaiki the Great was unlocked when Tsuruko came into contact with the Zeroize Code dwelling inside of her with the help of Gaiki itself. Throughout the series, Gaiki was shown to slowly become humanized thanks to Tsuruko treating it as a sentient being instead of a tool; cumulating in the penultimate chapter of Daybreak S3, where the AI asked Tsuruko before Devius' Universal Reboot was about to hit Earth Land, "I want to try something, but first I want to ask. Am I a real being, or a machine?" and Tsuruko responds with "You gotta decide that yourself. That's what people do." This causes Gaiki to remember its origins; before Dzerve watered the being down so that normal humanoids could harness its power, using the original Gaiki's essence by storing it in the Phoenix Driver's Drive Gem. The original Gaiki was an emissary from another dimension, referred to as the Verde World, who arrived on the Catalyst Comet- though during impact, Gaiki's form was reduced to a soul.
Because of Gaiki regaining sentience, Tsuruko and Gaiki were then capable of combining their fighting spirit and raising it to unprecedented heights as Tsuruko unlocked the Zeroize Code within her body, which was the source of the Zero Effect, causing Gaiki to regain its original form, before superimposing it over its Soul Armour form to provoke an incredible change. Gaiki takes upon a form similar to its Kai form, though the body becomes permanently golden, shining bright enough to illuminate the entire world. Not actually a Soul Armour by traditional means, Gaiki the Great is actually a mass of continuously materialized fighting spirit that shrouds Tsuruko's body. Gaiki the Great is given a much more streamlined design than any other iteration of the Soul Armour, with flatly cylindrical forearms rather than the bulky forearms of the others. The purple "hair" that extends from the back of the helmet, resembling Tsuruko's own ponytail, is actually a connected series of power batteries, and when activated can give a temporary boost in power. Gaiki the Great is further illuminated by the storm of Ardor that burns continuously from its core, giving it the appearance of a halo bridging through a distinct six-wing pinnation; all formed from flames. Symbolically, the enlightenment-powered Gaiki the Great's golden glow, wings resembling a mandala, and threateningly open hand (Rocket Punch) evoke the statue of a Buddhist warrior deity. The flames that compose the six mandala wings evoke the Seraphim, which are also known as The Burning Ones.
In this form, Tsuruko's power is beyond exalts and Over Lords; and even the mighty Signa cannot keep up with her in power, whereas previously, the Deus Machina had crushed the main cast effortlessly. Due to the synchronization of two particular potent fighting spirits, Gaiki the Great is capable of altering the fundamental laws of reality, such as altering probability and creating matter out of thin air. In addition, Tsuruko's own Zero Effect is granted an enormous boost- when Signa fired its own Spacetime Convergence Cannon at Gaiki the Great, Tsuruko was simply able to deflect it by punching it with the Gaikiken Kai. Almost all damage suffered by Gaiki the Great is on its left ("Protect") side, while its right ("Broken") side remains mostly untouched. Gaiki the Great is also capable of harnessing any power that any iteration of Tsuruko's Gaiki utilized, such as the manifestation of other Arms Weapons, the power to get stronger through damage, and many more.
Limit Break (必殺技, Rimitto Bureiku lit. Finishing Move): A Limit Break is the "ultimate attack" (絶招, Zesshō) of a Soul Armour—they are extremely powerful attacks enabled via the user taking damage in some way. When the user takes enough damage to gain an enormous amount of energy, they may perform a Limit Break. The user gains more energy to perform a Limit Break as they get angrier, and foes push them to their limits, the user unleashes an "unimaginable power". When the user's fighting spirit rises to its ultimate limit, for a short while it aligns with and emits from the user's body, allowing powerful abilities that cannot be performed in a natural state. Though generally, a Soul Armour Knight has no problem dealing with mere magicians and other magical races, against beings such as Hellions and other Soul Armour Knights, they require much more than 'stab it/kick it/punch it until it goes down'. Thus, the Limit Breaks come into play. It gathers their fighting spirit and transforms it into power, unleashing a single attack with no equal aside from other Limit Breaks. As every iteration of Gaiki, Tsuruko's Limit Breaks are the Victorize Kick (閃光魔術蹴り, Bikutāraizu Kikku lit. Flashing Magical Kick), where she descends with a flying side kick while engulfed in the Zero Effect, and the Rocket Punch (無限伸縮自在拳, Roketto Panchi lit. Infinite Telescoping Fist), where she launches her gauntlet and fist off of her limb like a rocket in order to smash the opponent with extreme prejudice. Gaiki also has another punching Limit Break called the Chaser Smash (流星拳打, Cheisā Sumasshu lit. Meteor Fist Barrage), where Tsuruko's fighting spirit causes the G-Circular to expel flames, as Tsuruko drifts towards the enemy and trips them up into the air. Afterwards, she unleashes a barrage of rapid punches onto the falling target, making an image of a speedometer appear from the resulting series of punches. Alternatively, Tsuruko can skip the tripping portion of her attack and go immediately to its punching portion. As Gaiki the Great, however, Tsuruko has access to one final Limit Break.
Tsuruko as Gaiki the Great, charging The Creation Burst.
Finale Limit Break: The Creation Burst (必殺技・改・天地創造撃, Fināre Rimitto Bureiku: Za Kurieishon Basuto lit. Finishing Move Revised: Heaven and Earth Creation Strike): The Creation Burst is the strongest Limit Break- it is activated when Tsuruko revs the lever on the Phoenix Driver thrice; however, in doing so, the Zeroize Code releases the limiters on the Spacetime Convergence Cannon, granting Tsuruko access to its full power. The Spacetime Convergence Cannon is the ultimate weapon of Tsuruko's Deus Machina functions; it was specifically installed within her frame by Dzerve in order to harness the full power of the Zero Effect by channeling it into a concentrated stream of energy that induces phase transition; which is the change from one physical state to another- in other words, it is similar to what happens when anti-matter comes into collision with its corresponding matter, resulting in the release of massive amounts of energy. The Spacetime Convergence Cannon is located within Tsuruko's abdomen— however, when activating it as Gaiki the Great, the shoulderpads of the Soul Armour up. Once activated, the zero particles are accelerated until they reach high speeds, carrying enough energy to vaporize anything it comes in contact with; no known defenses. Tsuruko's own Ardor fuels the attack, causing the zero particles to intensify by convergence and acceleration, before releasing it as an energy beam of immense power fired from the cannon. The Creation Burst is strong enough to destroy a miniature black hole, possessing incredible range, amazing power and pin-point accuracy, able to hit a target in outer space and kill most enemies with a single shot. Against Signa, Tsuruko demonstrated the ability to actually change the intensity of the attack; as during the clash between the Spacetime Convergence Cannons of both Deus Machina, The Creation Burst went from a purple stream of energy to the intensity of gold which resulted in Signa exploding in the upper atmosphere; this explosion was visible from the surface of the Old World; the resulting fallout from the blast was enough to destroy the Old World However, to stabilize the attack, Deen, Kirika, Excellen, and Giselle helped Tsuruko keep control over herself by holding onto her, allowing all four of them to vanquish the threat of the Old World for good.
— Tsuruko's activation phrase and the Lev Driver Honoo's transformation announcement for the Raptor Soul Armour.
Soul Armour Knight Raptor Tsuruko Custom (神鎧纏最高戦士 ・迅速撃・鶴子・型, Sōru Āmā Naito Raputā Tsuruko Kasutamu lit. God Armour Clad Supreme Warrior Swift Striker Tsuruko-Use): The Tsuruko Custom is a special variant of the Raptor Soul Armour, designed specifically for, obviously, Tsuruko Sejren. The Raptor Soul Armour looks fairly heroic; with its textures being predominantly of red and white; the Soul Armour possesses blocky red shoulders that have an exhaust at each end to increase speed; its arms are mostly white with two slots on each side in order to attach weaponry; same goes for its legs which have black armoured boots. The Raptor's lower body is protected by an all-around jagged piece of metal which allows the Soul Armour to store its Eternano Sabers on its hips, and two curved pieces of metal extend down near these hip-protectors to protect the Soul Armour's upper legs. The torso of the Soul Armour is mainly crimson, though the lower half is black, whereas its chest plate juts forwards slightly with golden exhausts on its sides. The helmet of the Raptor Soul Armour is completely white, with green optics and a grey Atmospheric Conductor- the armour also has a white and gold V-fin held in place by a grey gem. Tsuruko only used the Tsuruko Custom during Daybreak: Infinity Future, after "Dzerve Sejren" took her own Soul Armour and its Driver Belt from her when she attempted to fight the black Gaiki. After this, Marisa arrives and gives her a Lev Driver Honoo and Change Ring, telling her that it's "early access", before she leaves with Derrick to fight the Future Hellions. At first, she displayed distaste for the Mass-Production Model Soul Armour due to her belief that a Soul Armour is part of its wielder- every armour should be unique. The idea of multiples of a Soul Armour unnerved her a bit. Even so, she named her temporary Soul Armour Hotaru (ホタル, Hotaru; Firefly) after its red colour.
Unlike the normal Raptor Mass-Production Model Soul Armours, the Tsuruko Custom is designed to serve as a close combat Soul Armour instead of an all-rounder; indeed, the Tsuruko Custom adds two anti-magic energy swords, which can be combined into a larger double bladed sword, and a pair of energy boomerangs to the Raptor's standard armaments of two head-mounted machineguns, two hip-mounted Eternano Sabers, an Eternano Rifle and a shield. Despite the good intentions on Marisa's part to give her cousin a Soul Armour that fits her fighting style, during the fights Tsuruko is in when using the Mass-Production Model Soul Armour, she displays little to no proficiency with the armour, immediately discarding the Soul Armour's weapons, mainly because she prefers to fight hand-to-hand and she can't use magic. In addition, she has a habit of mistiming jumps and not understanding the armour's damage threshold due to continuously forgetting that she isn't using Gaiki, which has drastically higher parameters; adding to the Soul Armour's list of weaknesses, just like the rest of the Mass Production Model Soul Armours, the Raptor Custom's Soul Metal is not pure Soul Armour per-se, but a mixture of trace amounts of Soul Metal and a majority of its composition is hewn from titanium and light metals; unfortunately, engineers hit a construction roadblock regarding how to effectively mold the Soul Metal with the other alloys, mixing it with ceramic in an attempt to reinforce its comoposition, resulting that the Raptor Custom is heavier and can take much less hits as opposed to a regular Soul Armour, which are downright indestructible. Like all other Raptor models, the Raptor Custom is more mobile than other Mass-Production Model Soul Armours due to the additional vernier thrusters mounted on its legs and shoulders, and has higher performance that is comparable to a Cavalier Commander Unit.
The Raptor Custom was created to be the "first step" in evolving the Mass Production Model Soul Armours; designed to incorporate numerous aspects of all sorts of Knight Attache, which are auxiliary armament units that enable a Soul Armour to be fitted for a number of different roles, modifying their power output and skillset according to the situation- however, as the initial concept tried to do everything well all at once and allow the Raptor Custom to handle various situations using only one set of equipment, as a result, the Raptor Custom had extremely poor balance as the engineers couldn't figure out how to mesh everything together seamlessly- since "Dzerve Sejren" had appeared and put "her" plan into motion wile they were still developing the Raptor Custom's armament system, Marisa ordered the engineers to just strip the back attachment off so she could rush it to Tsuruko after Gaiki was stolen to give her a method of fighting even without her Soul Armour. As a comparison to the standard Gaiki, Raptor's statistics are more than halved, making it least equivalent to a Prototype Soul Armour in its Imperfect Form, albeit without the crippling design flaws such as glitches- it is said that Tsuruko as Raptor would only be capable of fighting a strong opponent through skill alone, and it is well-known that Tsuruko's fighting experience makes up for any power loss by using her skill against her opponent and usually can still defeat some monsters with little trouble.
The Raptor Custom, taking into account that in the next generation of Soul Armours, all sorts of people would wield the power of the knights, was installed with a secondary power source that could switch to primary known as the Idea Engine (イデア・エンジン, Idea Enjin), which is effectively a nuclear reactor. However, like everything else about the Raptor Custom, since non-supernatural energies are still barely understood, it was flawed and unstable, meaning that if mishandled or if it overheated, the Idea Engine would eventually stop functioning or explode and take a large chunk of the surroundings with it. Because of the numerous flaws and design goofs such as missing armour plating on the rear skirt portions, as a result, during most of Infinity Future, Tsuruko is barely able to keep up against regular Hellions due to her reckless fighting style and rarely taking into consideration that the Raptor Custom's durability and its capabilities. However, during her fight with the Dragon Hellion, Tsuruko's willpower manages to affect the Soul Armour, granting it the capabilities of a "true" Soul Armour, also evolving it into a new form which resulted in the armour changing colours and gaining new attachments—the Soul Armour gains two large wings, two telescopic barrel ardor cannons, two ardor boomerangs and two ardor shield generators, both equipment are mounted on the forearms of the Soul Armour; and most importantly, the ability to shroud the fists and feet of the Raptor in fighting spirit. In this form, Tsuruko was capable of properly matching the Dragon Hellion blow-for-blow before finishing him off.
Tsuruko as Raptor Custom, brandishing the Buster Sword.
Arms Weapon: Buster Sword (バスター・ソード, Basutā Sōdo): The Buster Sword is the name of the Raptor Custom's Arms Weapon; effectively, it is a modified version of the bog-standard Eternano Saber, adapted for ease of use by anyone. The Buster Sword takes the form of a large greatsword, at least twice Tsuruko's height, consisting of a physical blade and hilt with two energy emitters from top to bottom along the cutting edge of the sword. When Tsuruko surges her fighting spirit into the Arms Weapon or if she flips a switch on the hilt of the weapon, the energy emitters of the Buster Sword discharge a pulse of laser energy, creating a laser blade with which to cut with. Due to its sharp tip, the sword can also be used for aquatic combat. It is stored on the right side of the Raptor Custom's backpack when not in use. It is important to note that the damage is not caused by the physical blade, but by the energy that the laser blade portion discharges once in contact with the target; the laser blade is capable of dealing out amazing amounts of force to enemies, slicing through three hundred millimeters of reinforced titanium in a single slash, effortlessly cleaving weaker enemies and objects in twain- however, against things that the Soul Armours were designed to take down -the Hellions- the Buster Sword is simply a powerful sword for which Tsuruko has to use like any other bladed weapon on her opponents. However, a weakness to the Buster Sword is that unlike other Arms Weapons for other Soul Armours, its power source is linked to that of the Raptor Custom's, meaning that harnessing it reduces the Soul Armour's operation time by a quarter of its original potential, and Tsuruko can extend the laser blade over the tip of the sword for piercing enemies with large defensive power.
Limit Break (必殺技, Rimitto Bureiku lit. Finishing Move): A Limit Break is the "ultimate attack" (絶招, Zesshō) of a Soul Armour—they are extremely powerful attacks enabled via the user taking damage in some way. When the user takes enough damage to gain an enormous amount of energy, they may perform a Limit Break. The user gains more energy to perform a Limit Break as they get angrier, and foes push them to their limits, the user unleashes an "unimaginable power". When the user's fighting spirit rises to its ultimate limit, for a short while it aligns with and emits from the user's body, allowing powerful abilities that cannot be performed in a natural state. Though generally, a Soul Armour Knight has no problem dealing with mere magicians and other magical races, against beings such as Hellions and other Soul Armour Knights, they require much more than 'stab it/kick it/punch it until it goes down'. Thus, the Limit Breaks come into play. It gathers their fighting spirit and transforms it into power, unleashing a single attack with no equal aside from other Limit Breaks. As the Raptor Custom, Tsuruko has access to her usual Limit Break, Victorize Kick (閃光魔術蹴り, Bikutāraizu Kikku lit. Flashing Magical Kick), where she descends with a flying jump kick while engulfed in her fighting spirit or the Zero Effect- however, in comparison to the other iterations of the attack, the Raptor Custom's version of the Victorize Kick is only a third as strong as the base Gaiki's Victorize Kick. Additionally, with the Buster Sword Arms Weapon, she can perform the Slash Strike (スラッシュ・ストライク, Surasshu Sutoraiku), an oddly simple Limit Break where Tsuruko leaps into the air, charging her fighting spirit into the Buster Sword to engulf it in flames before slamming it into the target with a jumping slash motion that possesses incredible force.
Star Phoenix
Star Phoenix (スター・フェニックス, Sutā Fenikkusu): Star Phoenix is the form of Tsuruko's inner demon, known as Phoenix, after she managed to hold on when she was in deep despair and pushed Phoenix back inside. Star Phoenix is a European phoenix-themed demon that came from Tsuruko's soul; its body mostly retains gold and silver colours. He also has a red diamond in his head. Star Phoenix's human form is that of a young man with a grin on his lips. His hair is an unnatural red, his skin pale as though he hasn't seen the sun in a long time, and his eyes are a blazing crimson, far brighter than his hair. The whites of his eyes are black, just like other symbiotes; rather beautifully handsome in his own right. When Tsuruko was still young, Star Phoenix, in his larvae stage, was transferred from Alphonse to her during her birth—by complete accident. Incidentally, Star Phoenix attempted to befriend Tsuruko, teaching her how to fight as well as basically filling in the gaps of her not having an older sibling. However, once Giselle learnt of their relationship and feared for Tsuruko, she took matters into her own hands, skewering Star Phoenix and keeping him dormant in his larvae stage until the Sabbath; and it is because of this that the demon became vicious and sinister.
Star Phoenix first appeared in The Sabbath ritual, where he was about to burst out from Tsuruko's body. However, Tsuruko managed to keep her symbiote inside of her, saving Tsuruko from the demon. After that, Tsuruko is able to use her willpower to tame Star Phoenix. However, when Tsuruko is in a crisis because she could not defeat Kirika to protect her friends, Star Phoenix offers Tsuruko his powers. However, Star Phoenix warns Tsuruko if she uses too much of his power, Tsuruko will be driven to despair and Star Phoenix will kill Tsuruko. Tsuruko gives the dragon a very surprising response, saying that Star Phoenix is her hope. However, when Star Phoenix gave Tsuruko access to Soul Armour Gaiki, Star Phoenix still showed his sinister side. He stated that he would like to see which is stronger: hope or despair.
As for personality, Star Phoenix is shown to be extremely hot blooded, as shown when he brutalizes Alexis in a reckless manner. He will kill Tsuruko at any cost if there is a chance. Though Star Phoenix is somewhat sinister, he was shown to have a kind heart. This is shown when he sacrificed himself to protect Tsuruko from Amadam's attack at the end of S1. After Tsuruko's strong heart revived him, though, he regained all of his old memories and had decided to become Tsuruko's hope, in a unique reversal of Tsuruko's declaration to him during S1.
Instant Summon: When inside somebody's mindscape, or when fighting particularly powerful opponents, Tsuruko is capable of summoning Star Phoenix in order to aid her in battle with the Stellar Ring, or simply by concentration if Tsuruko is in an eternano-dominated environment while acting as Soul Armour Knight Gaiki. But care must be taken, as Tsuruko is only capable of accessing the power of Star Phoenix when acting as Gaiki—and because of this, if Tsuruko calls upon Star Phoenix through concentration, the Soul Armour will be disengaged and returned to the Phoenix Driver for the duration in which Star Phoenix is out and battling alongside his master.
Phoenix Armaments: Later, when Tsuruko confronts Star Phoenix within her mind and asks for her power, Star Phoenix decides to help after seeing his host's resolve and helps Tsuruko obtain the power needed in order to become Soul Armour Knight Gaiki. When Tsuruko is fighting as Soul Armour Knight Gaiki, at choice intervals, a single component of Star Phoenix's body is capable of being manifested upon Gaiki's own body; allowing Tsuruko to use the power of that component to its fullest extent—more often than not, serving as the deciding blow in every battle. However, Star Phoenix told Tsuruko that if she overuses the Phoenix Armaments that this deal had netted her, Tsuruko will fall into deep despair and will kill her and take over.
Phoenix Skull (フェニックス・スカル, Fenikkusu Sukaru): The Phoenix Skull is a powerful special technique of Tsuruko's when harnessing Star Phoenix's power while acting as Gaiki; when utilizing it, she gathers her fighting spirit within her chest, which Star Phoenix. Merging his own fighting spirit with the fighting spirit Tsuruko has gathered within her chest, he then uses the dual energies to serve as a fulcrum—manifesting his true form's head, a phoenix skull, outwards from Tsuruko's chest. The head is a menacing black in texture, with crimson and golden eyes that stare deep into the souls of their enemies. From there, the fearsome mouth opens with a creak, exposing Star Phoenix's gaping maw to the opponent. Charging the fighting spirit within his mouth, Phoenix unleashes a powerful attack known as Phoenix Blaze (フェニックス・ブレイズ, Fenikkusu Bureizu); an immensely powerful, explosively destructive blast of flame that is capable of traveling great distances, as seen when it was visible all throughout Crocus, wreaking havoc wherever it passed. The attack requires about 3 seconds to travel a few ten thousand-kilometer distance, and it possesses a penchant for widespread destruction, able to obliterate several buildings from a distance.
Phoenix Tail (フェニックス・テイル, Fenikkusu Teiru): The Drago Tail is a powerful special technique of Tsuruko's when harnessing Star Phoenix's power when acting as Gaiki; when utilizing it, she gathers her fighting spirit within her lower back, which Star Phoenix then links to. Merging his own fighting spirit with the fighting spirit Tsuruko has gathered within her lower back, he then uses the dual energies to serve as a fulcrum—manifesting the tail of his true form, an avian tail outwards from Tsuruko's lower back. The tail is menacing; possessing an abundance of spikes around the tip of the tail, with jet-black scales which seem to glow red. Charging fighting spirit within the tail and transferring it outwards through the tip of the tail, Star Phoenix unleashes a powerful attack known as Phoenix Freeze Whip (フェニックス・ンフリーズ・ウィップ, Fenikkusu Furīzu Wippu), where Tsuruko first freezes the enemy (and whatever else nearby it) in place with her power, then rushes towards the frozen target with the Phoenix Tail, charged with raw elemental ice, and cleaves the foe with it.
Phoenix Wings (フェニックス・ウィング, Fenikkusu Uingu): The Phoenix Wings are a powerful special technique of Tsuruko's when harnessing Star Phoenix's power when acting as Gaiki; when utilizing them, she gathers her fighting spirit within her upper back, which Star Phoenix then links to. Merging his own fighting spirit with the fighting spirit Tsuruko has gathered within her upper back, he then uses the dual energies to serve as a fulcrum—manifesting the wings of his true form, a pair of phoenix wings outwards from Tsuruko's upper back. These wings appear crimson in texture, with several black scales in place littered around the tips. By utilizing a variant of energy propulsion in conjunction with fighting spirit, she is capable of achieving extremely high speeds while leaving behind a trail of visible after-images to confuse her enemies. The speed and after-images granted by the Phoenix Wings allow Tsuruko to effectively dodge multi-directional attacks. Activating this attack causes a slip stream effect that allows Tsuruko to achieve speeds normally impossible to her in any location. By charging the particles with fighting spirit, this allows Tsuruko an additional defensive measure as well as immense propulsion, allowing her to build up speed over time as she darts through the air.
Phoenix Hell Claws (フェニックス・ヘル・クロー, Fenikkusu Heru Kurō): The Phoenix Hell Claws are a powerful special technique of Tsuruko's when harnessing Star Phoenix's power when acting as Gaiki; when utilizing them, she gathers fighting spirit within her hands, which Star Phoenix then links to. Merging his own fighting spirit with the fighting spirit Tsuruko has gathered within her hands, he then uses the dual energies to serve as a fulcrum—manifesting the claws of his true form, a pair of phoenix claws outwards from Tsuruko's hands. These claws have a serrated appearance; similar to overly-long nails or the fangs of a dragon. They are reportedly extremely powerful; able to cleave through almost anything that Tsuruko can see, and deal astronomical damage to beings of demonic origin. When infusing the Phoenix Hell Claws with gravitational energy, Tsuruko can execute an attack called Phoenix Levitate Torn (フェニックス・浮揚・トーン, Fenikkusu Fuyō Tōn), where she infuses the Phoenix Hell Claws with gravitational energy before striking the enemy with a cross beam slash that delivers a tremendous amount of destruction to the surrounding area and the opponent.
Deus Machina Functions
When Tsuruko was younger, she suffered from a rare, seemingly incurable disease- the Яeverse Phenomenon (Я「リバース」・フェノメノン, Ribāsu Fenomenon), which slowly rotted those affected by it, additionally making them a target for the Hellion threat. Giselle searched high and low for a cure, even making several breakthroughs in science and magic, all in vain- she even murdered several Wizard Saints in a futile attempt to get answers. However, one day, Giselle discovered the capsule of DSC-X300A—TSUR-UK-0 Deus Machina Number Three (ＤＳＣ-Ｘ300Ａ-ＴＳＵＲ-ＵＫ-0 デウス・マキナ・三号, Deusu Makina Sangō; short for Dzerve Sejren Custom—Xceed Three Hundred Absolutes: Tactical Soul Unison Robot-Ultimate Katastrophe-unit Zero) was left over after the Universal Reboot that shook Aether. With the Deus Machina having lost its own Daybreak Drive's power-source- as her daughter was beginning to really feel the effects of the Reverse disease, Giselle hastily transferred her daughter's soul into the Daybreak Drive, permanently bonding the soul to the power plant, discarding her organic body and allowing her to live once more, free of disease; an action that Giselle came to regret ever since, as bestowing all of that incredible power upon her daughter was something she considered too much for her to bear. Considering the ridiculous amounts of collateral damage Tsuruko causes in every battle, she may have had a point. The Deus Machina Number Three frame is a major source of Tsuruko's incredible power, as the model was originally designed for interstellar warfare against what Dzerve Sejren, the original creator of the frame initially perceived as invaders from another planet. As such, the body is installed with countless combat-ready cybernetics and prostheses, giving her an extreme level of strength and speed, as well as advanced sensors and projectile attacks, as the frame was created for the sole purpose of being the ultimate military battle robot; an ultimate weapon of mass destruction.
It is mentioned by Giselle that the frame of the Deus Machina Number Three is powered by a Discontinuous Hyperoscillation Gauge Collapsing Pile (不連続の超発振計器崩一盛り (ＤＨＧＣＰ), Dī Ēch Gī Shī Pī), which is essentially an artificial black hole; this results in the frame's internal space being completely empty, allowing the rest of the body to be capable of mimicking human organ systems, albeit in a mechanical manner, as it is mentioned that Tsuruko converts food and drink to bio-fuel while still being able to experience the taste. It is important to note that the Deus Machina were designed to be as human-like as possible as to not scare actual humans, and as such, Tsuruko is required to sleep and can become hungry as mentioned above; along with this, she can also physically display emotion like crying and blushing- indeed, if it weren't for the doll-like joints she possessed and her power-button-shaped-pupils, one could mistake her for a human; though Tsuruko rarely displays any pain or signs of fatigue, being capable of fighting at full capacity for more than two weeks. Tsuruko's secondary engine that she can harness in emergency situations is a Four-Valve "Wisel" Fusion Engine (四弁・「ワイゼル」・融合機関, Shiben Waizeru Yūgō Kikan), which has a tesla power coil integrated within it which produces electricity through electro-magnetic induction. In any case, the maximum power output both engines display is six thousand, eight hundred RPM, and the maximum torque is four thousand RPM.
The Deus Machina Number Three frame, like all Deus Machina frames, is also fitted with a chip that grants Tsuruko immunity from all viruses, which, when combined with the permanent fusion between her soul and the frame, results in Tsuruko being unable to be hacked or tampered with. Tsuruko's optics/eyes are referred to as Receptacle Orbs (リセプタクル・オーブ, Riseputakuru Ōbu), constantly downloading information about the environment into her body, allowing her to see the world around her in a digital HUD-like manner, complete with analyzing scans that enables her to identify potential threats posed by things nearby, additionally receiving information and personal facts about the scanned beings. The Receptacle Orbs present the data without requiring Tsuruko to look away from her usual viewpoints, and the Receptacle Orbs grant her a three-hundred and sixty degree field of view, being able to 'see' directions that are not possible for beings to perceive without turning, such as seeing behind her and above, all without moving her head. The Receptacle Orbs also allow Tsuruko to pin-point weaknesses in her targets, enabling her to exploit advantages easier. By scanning the environment in the heat of battle, Tsuruko can study the conditions of the battlefield and automatically regulate everything to "evolve" using her A-Trans, bringing out a better performance.
When the Deus Machina Number Three body was retrieved by Giselle, she noticed countless instances of impossibly-advanced technological armaments integrated within the body's frame; upon closer inspection, it was discovered that the body had numerous offensive-based functions which were deemed too dangerous; in the blueprints that Giselle has stashed away in her office, a series of hastily scribbled notes mention that a "Seven-Type Integrated Armament Fortress Drone System" (七式統合兵装・フォートレス・ドローン・システム, Nanashiki Tōgōheisō Fōtoresu Dorōn Shisutemu), two "MRF-SA1 High-energy Strife Rifles" (ＭＲＦ-ＳＡ・一・高力・ストライフ・ライフル, Ēmu Aru Ēfu Ēsu Ē Ichi Kōryoku Sutoraifu Raifuru) which were stored in the holsters of the "MLR-66 Burnout Railguns" (ＭＬＲ-六十六・バーンアウト・超電磁砲, Ēmu Ēru Aru Rokujūroku Bānauto Chōdenjihō) attached to her upper hips, a "MC7000-Revolver Carry Shield" (ＭＣ・七千・リボルバー・キャリー・シールド, Ēmu Shī Nanasen Riborubā Kyarī Shīrudo) which is equipped with a "Grapple Stinger" (グラップル・スティンガー, Gurappuru Sutingā) and a "Slice Boomerang" (スライス・ブーメラン, Suraisu Būmeran), two "Blaster Gatling" (ブラスター・ガトリング, Burasutā Gatoringu) mounted on the body's forearms, a "Hell Bazooka" (ヘル・バズーカ, Heru Bazūka) which could be summoned from within, and finally, two "Rocket Anchors" (ロケット・アンカー, Roketto Ankā) in the frame's feet. It later turned out that however, soon after Tsuruko activated her Deus Machina Mode for the first time in Daybreak, Giselle removed the "XAC-7AR Buster Cannon" (ＸＡＣ・七・ＡＲ・バスター・キャノン, Ekkusu Ē Shī Nana Ē Aru Basutā Kyanon) arm-mounted blaster, citing that she missed getting rid of it; no harm was done to Tsuruko in the process, leaving Tsuruko with only two offensive measures still installed.
Additionally, alongside this, the Deus Machina Number Three frame had several systems such as the "Multi Lock-On System" (マルチ・ロック・オン・システム, Maruchi Rokku On Shisutemu), which would allow the Deus Machina to target multiple enemies and attack them at once with the countless ranged weapons installed within the body and the "Deuterion Beam Energy Transfer System" (デュートリオン・ビーム・送電・システム, Deyūtorion Bīmu Sōden Shisutemu), which could enable Deus Machina Number Three to drain energy from the surroundings and people to power the weaponry and regenerate. However, all of these functions and abilities were removed by Giselle after repurposing the frame to serve as a new body for her daughter in the hopes that she could give her a relatively normal life. Despite this, there were several instances of Jintech (黒匣 (ジンテク), Jintekku lit. Black Box) that she was unable to remove without damaging the frame, such as the Zero Blades, and the Spacetime Convergence Cannon, all of which gave Tsuruko limited access to a fraction of the intended power. Ironically, both the Zero Blades and the Spacetime Convergence Cannon are the deadliest weaponry in Tsuruko's arsenal, as they can slice through the fabric of time and space and destroy dimensions, respectively. Aside from the functions mentioned above, Tsuruko also has access to features such as listed below.
TSC-DRSF Gungnir Smasher (ＴＳＣ・ＤＲＳＦ・ガングニール ・スマッシャー, Tī Ēsu Shī Dī Aru Ēsu Efu Gangunīru Sumasshā): The Gungnir Smashers are the name of Tsuruko's arms; they are permanently equipped upon the Deus Machina Number Three frame. Tsuruko's arms are slightly bigger than a normal human's; a layer of metal which can change its textures in order to disguise itself is layered over her hands and forearms; though the Gungnir Smashers appear similar to gauntlets that act as 'arm guards' of sorts; the 'gauntlets' have a pump-action shield shaped like a 'T' on the back of the Gungnir Smashers, which allow Tsuruko to use her arms' special ability. Attached to the 'gauntlets' are chambers that holster a magazine consisting of fourty-eight shells, giving one hundred and ninety-two shots in total when both arms are fully loaded. A purple blaster barrel is concealed in the front of the Gungnir Smashers, aligned between the knuckles of Tsuruko's index and middle fingers. Due to being Tsuruko's own arms instead of any sort of weaponry, while normally they can be hidden by oversized gloves, they can be quite strange to see- in fact, Kaguya refers to Tsuruko as 'fathands' a few times. As the Gungnir Smashers are a natural part of the Deus Machina Number Three frame, they are also forged from Meteorium, a light-weight yet completely indestructible alloy which can survive almost anything yet possesses immense power; as such, with the Gungnir Smashers, Tsuruko can crush bone, metal, or any other material with relative ease; her hands can be used to collapse throats, crush skulls, and shatter bones. Her arms are strong enough to catch energy weaponry and terminate their emission. The Gungnir Smashers possess piston-like structures which can be "fired" to add more force to her punches; in addition to being capable of being used as a delivery system for her Zero Effect which can be fired through the barrel at the front of her arms. Additionally, Tsuruko is also capable of launching her hands from her arms; when doing so, her hand opens up and another hand extends out of it; with that hand opening up and extending out its own countless times, in a similar manner to a rocket or a chain, launching forward like a missile- this is best seen in her Rocket Punch attack. While mainly used for, well, doing what Tsuruko does best -smashing things- the Gungnir Smashers can launch creating pulses of raw kinetic energy from the barrels in the form of flashes of fighting spirit resembling explosions or flames, and are capable of knocking enemies back great distances. Tsuruko, by aiming backwards, is capable of launching pulses of fighting spirit in order to combine strength and speed, punching her opponents and firing shots at them or using the recoil from the energies released from the Gungnir Smashers to propel her great distances. The Gungnir Smashers, while normally used to launch beams of fighting spirit, can be utilized to fire solid projectiles and shells that can explode upon contact- Tsuruko's arms are compatible with all sorts of ammunition, including the regular Rune Knight pistol and Turbo's Wheeler Gunner variabullets.
ASF-EX "Wing Road" Vernier Thruster System (ＡＳＦ・ＥＸ・「ウイング・ロード」・バーニア・スラスタ・システム, Ē Ēsu Ēfu Ē Ekkusu Uingu Rōdo Baniā Surasuta Shisutemu): Tsuruko's main form of movement enhancement- the Wing Road Vernier Thruster System takes the form of boosters which are installed within her shoulders and her feet to grant her amazing acceleration; the former of which result in enhanced side to side movement capabilities, allowing Tsuruko to better evade enemy's attacks. The Wing Road Vernier Thruster System is linked via energy-transmitting cables to both of Tsuruko's power plants, meaning that whenever Tsuruko wishes, the power plants can feed enormous amounts of energy to the thrusters, using the energy arced across the solid propellant in order to power the boosters, resulting in them discharging impossibly fast moving jets that generate thrust by jet propulsion, granting super speed, which, along with her lightning-fast reflexes, allows her to react to threats coming in at supersonic speed and move at speeds far greater than mach speed, which is approximately seven hundred and sixty-eight miles per hour. When in motion, her movement creates the illusion that she is skating, as the thrusters propel her forward at a constant pace, but she moves as if she is simply skating along the ground. This, of course, also grants Tsuruko the ability of flight, being capable of zipping around in the air without any outside assistance at the same speeds she moves at when grounded- she can also use the Wing Road Vernier Thruster System to hover in the air in one place for large amounts of time, or to stall her fall. By overloading her circuits, Tsuruko is capable of achieving ten times the accelerations as she normally would, though she cannot sustain this velocity for long without risking her own destruction. The Deus Machina Number Three frame is coated with a special substance over the alloys used in its construction referred to as Shock Negater (ショック・ネゲーター, Shokku Negētā) which largely absorbs and negates impact shock, thus protecting Tsuruko from catastrophic events such as high-speed collision, allowing her to use the Wing Road freely.
Absorb Grip (アブゾーブ・グリップ, Abuzōbu Gurippu): The palms of Tsuruko's hands and the bottom of her feet have a special adhesive interwoven with the Meteorium that composes them – this adhesive serves as a technological variant of Alchemy developed by Dzerve Sejren completely by accident when she first discovered the zero particle in the Old World; the substance is a continuously-applied layer of zero particles that grant Tsuruko's hands and feet complete dominance over Coulomb's law, a law of physics that describes any type of force interacting between static electrically charged particles, but to put it more simply, it's effectively granting Tsuruko a psychosomatic control over electrostatic force, which is the inter-atomic attraction between molecular boundary layers. By mentally controlling the sub-atomic particles that compose the Zero Effect and that dwell within her small body, she is capable of overwhelming the outer electron shell's normal behaviour which encourages mutual repulsion between particles, superimposing over them outer electron shells of a different origin, instantly causing electron attraction to occur no matter the situation at hand. This allows Tsuruko's hands and feet the constantly-activated ability to manipulate the inter-atomic binding forces that compose all forms of matter with thoughts alone the moment that she comes into contact with anything. While the Absorb Grip's power to alter the attraction and repulsion between two objects is strictly limited to Tsuruko's own body (which is focused around her extremities) and another object of her choosing, this is all that's really needed, as upon making contact with something, she's capable of forming a temporary molecular bond between herself and anything, granting her enormous grip strength which even enables her to cling to solid surfaces and is partly what allows her to run up walls and ceilings as well as lift thousand of tonnes without suffering any bodily strain – inversely, the Absorb Grip also enables Tsuruko to induce an immense repulsion force upon contact, sending an opponent careening across the landscape with a single touch while punching a toppling building back in its place. It can be said that because of its properties the Absorb Grip's power heavily factors into Tsuruko's superhuman strength and incredible durability.
A-Trans (一切見のえる化, A-Toransu lit. Digitization of Everything): The A-Trans is the signature ability of the Deus Machina race; it is considered their "method of evolution" until their adulthood. They are designed to evolve by absorbing knowledge and information; upon with they start to form a personality. A-Trans is the ability to perfectly copy and mimic the quirks, traits, and abilities of the things around the Deus Machina; when the Deus Machina is "born", their Daybreak Drive researches the evolution and behaviour of living beings by digitizing the mysteries surrounding the Deus Machina, collecting oodles of data that the Deus Machina processes and downloads directly into their systems, allowing them to mature little by little as they learn from experiences. By the physical age of twenty, a Deus Machina would have accumulated enough data to "awaken" as their own identity. In battle, A-Trans can be utilized to flawlessly mimic their enemies' attacks, allowing a Deus Machina to become more skilled in combat with every experience and attack witnessed; indeed, a Deus Machina can observe any combat techniques or even unique abilities, such as super speed, martial arts, super strength, voices etc., store them as data and then execute them with unnerving accuracy and precision, allowing the Deus Machina to grow exponentially stronger with each battle they witness. This can also extend to any and every aspect of a target, enabling the Deus Machina to mimic running styles, jumping abilities, stances, and voices. Klaus' Deus Machina, Signa, seems to use a different form of A-Trans that is said to have the ability to "control all life".
Synchro (シンクロ, Shinkuro): An extension of A-Trans is the ability to perfectly mimic the form of any humanoid being or otherwise. This ability is the primary use of A-Trans, as, upon birth, a Deus Machina chooses an 'ideal form' and then utilizes A-Trans to copy it. Synchro works like shape-shifting; as the Deus Machina absorbs the data revolving around their target and flawlessly replicates it, morphing their standard body into the copied form. Interestingly, Tsuruko's Synchro ability is irreversibly permanent, as Dzerve Sejren instructed the original body to mimic her form and then disabled the Synchro function of A-Trans; this way, when the Universal Reboot happened, she would know where her creation was when she eventually reincarnated into the current dimensions.
Armament Replication (武装副書, Busō Fukusho): The copying abilities of A-Trans are not limited to the combat skills or traits of living beings. The Deus Machina can also replicate all forms of weaponry and machinery as well, be it weapons from the Old World or the modern day technology, allowing the Deus Machina to manifest all kinds of technology. If a Deus Machina is not physically capable of performing a technique, such as flight or an elemental attack, they are capable of replicating it in another way; for example, in a flying creature's case, Tsuruko utilizes the jet boosters installed within her back to induce zero-gravity flight or uses one of her limbs to imitate an attack with said tail, and in the case of a certain Water Dragon Slayer, she extends her arms outward with a cable-like cord to lengthen her reach. Indeed, a Deus Machina is capable of "absorbing" weaponry just by seeing it –even if it's from a work of fiction-, visualizing it, and then projecting it, allowing them to function as a living arsenal. This skill is actually part of the Infinity Code of the Gaiki Soul Armour's Super Mode, which allows Tsuruko to manifest any Arms Weapon of her choice through sheer willpower alone, allowing her to utilize them as if they were her own.
Self-Repair (自己修復, Jikoshūfuku): Self-Repair is one of the most vital systems for a Deus Machina. As the name suggests, Self-Repair allows the Deus Machina to recover independently. Normally, this is represented by nanomachines manifesting from the Deus Machina's broken portions, which swarm and take the form of the missing piece, effectively replacing it in a matter of moments. The nanomachines allow a Deus Machina to take excessive amounts of damage without being destroyed or being seriously harmed, instead nanomachines are regressed to their infant form for a few hours before growing back. However, Tsuruko often displays a different type of Self-Repair; if she loses a limb, she simply re-attaches her limb again and the limb still works. Tsuruko can lose limbs or have her body torn asunder, only to return to perfect 'health' through replacement parts and repairs (however, the source of the replacement parts is unclear, especially since Meteorium is an unobtainable metal in the current universe).
Impact (闘魂鉄拳上, Inpakuto lit. Fighting Spirit Iron Fist Escalation): Impact is a special property of Tsuruko's own physiology as a Deus Machina- a war machine designed to destroy dimensions. The Impact Code is a program installed within Tsuruko's fists and feet areas that allows her to increase the power of her strikes. In conjunction with the Daybreak Drive, which turns Tsuruko's emotions into energy, the Impact Code is visualized as a quartet of small translucent bars which are framed with silver wired into Tsuruko's arms and legs; in her HUD screen, the Impact Code notifies Tsuruko of how much it has been charged and the subsequent power output on the bottom of the screen- when the requirements needed begin to fill, the bars begin to glow and what is translucent slowly but surely becomes a shining emerald in texture. While it could be said that Impact is similar in result to the Limit Breaks associated with Soul Armours, aside from basic function as a method of unleashing supremely powerful attacks, the two couldn't be any more different. The Impact Code is filled through a "hold" method as a contrast to the Limit Break's "collection" method; the "hold" method involves Tsuruko, well, holding the extremity with which she is about to attack with in place, activating the Impact Code on that particular limb. Doing so allows her immense amounts of fighting spirit to be transformed into actual energy which condenses in the limb of choice, resulting in such phenomena converging and being visualized as a mass of scarlet burning energy swirling around Tsuruko's limb like a wildfire- the spiraling energy only increases in size the longer that she holds her arm or leg in place to charge more and more energies as her emotions intensify, using her personal conviction to bolster the next strike significantly. Impact can be charged for up to three seconds by staying in a single spot, with Tsuruko building up momentum with her limbs by swinging them around, before hitting her opponent with full force- however, this takes a split-second longer than a regular punch, which can mean the difference between victory and defeat in the heat of battle, which means that Tsuruko will only harness such a method if the opponent is immobilized with no way to defend themselves against the oncoming blow that will possess enough force to knock the helpless enemy a fair distance away. In terms of charging levels, Impact is chargeable up to three stages with herdamage output being multiplied by the implemented level (i.e. level 1 is normal, level 3 being triple), but timing is important, as waiting too long will weaken the attacks, sending them back to the second and first stage respectively; making it somewhat demanding to properly utilize as Tsuruko would have to consistently hit the maximum charge level to bring out the best of its potential; upon hitting the third level, the Impact meter fills rapidly then depletes upon hitting the maximum. Of course, as the final level of charge, the third level is the most powerful and most the difficult to hit the opponent with; but at the final level, it dishes out staggering amounts of damage, unleashing blows that cause an enemy to ricochet off of walls involuntarily upon impact while leaving then incapable of regaining their bearings for a longer period of time than normal, opening up a whole variety of options from which Tsuruko can continue. Once the Impact meter has been filled and depleted, Tsuruko defaults back to the first level of the Impact power- and if she holds the power upon her limb for too long, the Impact meter will cease charging and default back. However, as something that is somewhat common is that Tsuruko has to stand still to charge her attack, depending on what she is about to unleash, the charged attack may or may not be worth the time to prepare it—doubly so if charging the attack leaves her unable to move or evade enemy attacks in the meantime. To slightly mitigate such a thing, when harnessing Impact, Tsuruko is capable of cancelling the charge, allowing the Impact-enhanced blow to be saved for later; when this is done, she holds the masses of flame in her limb and moves around as normal; this can serve as a way to take advantage of extra power while taking evasive action; the charge cancel can be used to bluff an opponent by allowing them to come close to Tsuruko while she's charging, only to find themselves attacked by another method; when cancelling the charge, Tsuruko can move or attack quickly out of the charge cancel without delay, enabling her to quickly react to an incoming blow.
AUOS-666 Zero Blades (ＡＵＯＳ・六百六十六・ゼロ・ブレーズ, Ē Ū Ō Ēsu Roppyakurokujūroku Zero Burēzu): The Zero Blades, noted by Gary as the "Dimension-Slaying Wings" (次元滅翼, Jigenmetsuyoku), are Tsuruko's main armament when her Deus Machina Mode activates. They appear from her back the moment that Tsuruko becomes her Deus Machina Mode. Something to note is that they're not technically wings, but rather solely blades that are coated with zero energy that eliminate everything around Tsuruko's body, even natural phenomena such as wind resistance, enabling her to soar higher with the rocket boosters installed within her feet. The blades appear similar to single-edged swords which are silver in texture, and have numerous runic markings engraved upon them; they also have hidden handles that enable them to function as hand-held swords. They move and take aim at the target according to Tsuruko's will, allowing her to fire without having to even touch them; they are shot with enough force to drill a hole through the prototype of Etherion, as shown during the Constellation Skirmish. The Zero Blades possess many attacking roles in Tsuruko's arsenal such as attacking individually or forming up as a whole set to become either a buster rifle or a buster sword; through combining them, a larger sword can be formed. In addition to offense, the Zero Blades can also create a field of energy to protect Tsuruko when positioned together in a circle; she can allow the swords to pull her around or anchor herself and use them pull large objects, including pulling down the Prototype Etherion despite the mass of the satellite. While it is possible to block many of the strikes, to do so can be seen as suicidal. When Tsuruko goes all out, it is not uncommon to see a flurry of swords materializing out of thin air and disappearing just as quickly, flying and attacking rapidly from many angles at once; overall overwhelming the foe; or at least, placing tremendous pressure upon them, forcing them to keep their defenses up lest they be struck by a sword—causing dozens of other blades to perforate them in a matter of moments. The blades can be brought together to form a circular ring that is spun to fire a powerful purple laser of zero energy that is capable of splitting into many smaller beams; which is powerful enough to slice through metal with ease, and are seen to take down two attacking aircraft by cutting them apart. Indeed, Tsuruko is capable of conjuring mighty dragons born of blades to descend upon her opponents, or erecting nigh impenetrable barriers of blades which are stronger than the greatest binding spells. Upon firing them, Tsuruko can allow them to pierce the ground after striking the target, causing a large amount of destruction with each weapon, or she can instantly resummon the Zero Blades back to her vicinity. While it should be noted that the Zero Blades are more of a trademark of Tsuruko's Deus Machina Mode, she can harness them in her normal form or as Gaiki- though it takes quite a bit of willpower and focus in order to manifest them.
Deus Machina Mode
"Restriction 666 released, Demon Host Detected, All Limiters Deactivated! Code: Dust to Dust, Activate! (第666拘束機関開放、魔主検、出全無効化、コード・ダスト・ト・ダスト、起動！, Dai roku roku roku kōsoku kikan kaihō, mashu kenshu, zenfū mukōka, Kōdo: Dasuto to Dasuto, kidō!)"
— Tsuruko activating Code: DTD
Tsuruko under the effects of Code: DTD.
Code: DTD (覚醒態・奮闘力解 (コード・ＤＴＤ (ダスト・ト・ダスト), Kōdo: DTD (Dasuto to Dasuto) lit. Code: Dust to Dust, alternatively Awakening State: All-Out Power Released): Code: DTD, also known as Deus Machina Mode (デウス・マキナ・モード, Deusu Makina Mōdo) is the mysterious special function of Tsuruko's Deus Machina body—it is referred to her ultimate skill. It is normally activated through being triggered by a strong emotion; more often than not, either rage or sorrow. Once the emotional pull is achieved, Tsuruko's human "guise" is shed in place of her Deus Machina form. In her Deus Machina form, Tsuruko has luminescent red eyes that make her appear quite akin to the ideal of beauty in the current age; though her hair remains the same. Any traces of humanity are not there in terms of her body, as she possesses a cybernetic body, including sprouting shoulder-pads, high-collared neck armour, ear-like protrusions on her head which are similar to boosters, armour covering her pelvic and the sides of her abdominal region, and similarly coloured armour on her thighs; however, she has golden lining at her shoulders, upper forearms, and thighs. Her most evident cybernetic portions are above her thighs, at her shoulder-blades, and supposed lack of feet; and what isn't cybernetic reveals that her bodily joints are like that of a doll's.
In any case, activating Code: DTD causes Tsuruko to enter a state of rage that drives her to destroy anything that threatens her, no matter what it takes; showing a drastically increased ruthlessness level that makes her a fearsome, unpredictable opponent—this is only enhanced by the fact that her Deus Machina mode leaves her pretty much on auto-pilot and will attack anything perceived as a threat with maximum force. However, the Code: DTD isn't evil, but it's not necessarily good either. Its main concerns are Tsuruko's survival, her rage and sorrow, and destroying "relics" from the Old World- indeed, Tsuruko's morals and innocent bystanders are secondary considerations, at best. Because of this, Tsuruko is somewhat afraid of this form, especially as it was the deciding factor in her deciding only to fight for the smiles of people after a certain incident in her childhood. The form heightens her concentration to the point that she blocks out all sounds except for her opponent's voice; and when in this form, her own voice becomes deeper and noticeably more menacing; indeed, its activation is usually accompanied by an excruciating amount of pain. Whenever Tsuruko becomes possessed by her Deus Machina form, it appears as if Tsuruko was somebody else entirely—or rather, in reality, the Code: DTD simply forcibly rewrites her own personal convictions about holding back and allows her to go all out in battle.
The Code: DTD is a bit of a win-lose scenario as far as Tsuruko sees it- when she transforms into her "true disposition" which is her full Deus Machina form, she effectively becomes the strongest character in the entire Sun Trilogy (in fact, strong enough to shatter souls and remove her enemies from the reincarnation cycle through brute force alone), and the Code: DTD is sentient enough that it can activate on its own to be used if Tsuruko is ever in mortal danger. On the flip side, it will send send her into a mindless rampage that drains her strength more than any of her Soul Armour forms. It is a common misconception that when accessing Code: DTD, Tsuruko's abilities are greatly increased and she can move at greater speeds thanks to the exposed thrusters; while each of her blows can shatter the earth. When in Deus Machina Mode, Tsuruko can use her Zero Effect to take control of an enemy's magic and use it against the foe. Finally, DTD enables Tsuruko to use the in-built virus program created by Dzerve in order to quadruple her damage against those hosting demons, giving her a major advantage. DTD supposedly lets Tsuruko to control her body completely through her brain, thus it is breaking her limitations, essentially—her body will move like it would in a dream. The stress caused by moving in this manner, however, is way too much for Tsuruko—and ironically, that means that Code: DTD can only be activated for ten minutes before shutting down, leaving Tsuruko vulnerable. However, the truth behind the supposedly augmented abilities is that Tsuruko could perform all of those actions normally, and simply lacks the knowledge of how to do so or refuses to do so due to this form's increased aggression; this form simply brings them out for her to access automatically.
While initially uncontrollable, as whenever her Deus Machina Mode would activate, Tsuruko was under stress or filled with rage and send her on a rampage, a major risk of activating the form was Tsuruko losing control and becoming a cybernetic monster bent on killing everything in its way. However, after coming to terms with herself and accepting her Deus Machina Mode as part of herself, Tsuruko was capable of fully mastering the Deus Machina Mode through her gentle nature and conviction to not kill innocents, allowing her to retain full control through willpower alone, entering a state of tranquility known as Clear and Serene (明鏡止水, Meikyō Shisui); which enables her to control the Zero Effect and her robotic instincts through sheer willpower alone; in order to harness the power of Clear and Serene, Tsuruko's mind must be clear, psychologically speaking; she has to free herself from all negativity in her mind and heart, and must maintain focus on the battle at hand and nothing else. Visually, this causes her Deus Machina Mode to retain the purple eye color of her human form as opposed to her Deus Machina Mode's red eyed colour; however, while it's now become possible for her to control it, it's difficult to maintain that control and the form is less powerful when restrained. When under the effects of Clear and Serene, Tsuruko is able to overlay her Soul Armour with her Deus Machina Mode, enabling her to access her Super Mode without large amounts of Ardor gain unlike the other seven prototype Soul Armours.
DSC-EX-HOAC-∞ Spacetime Convergence Cannon (ＤＳＣ・ＥＸ・ＨＯＡＣ・インフィニティ・時空集中砲, Dī Ēsu Shī Ekkusu Ēshu Ō Ē Shī Infiniti Jikū Shūchū Hō): The Spacetime Convergence Cannon is the ultimate weapon of Tsuruko's Deus Machina functions; it was specifically installed within her frame by Dzerve in order to harness the full power of the Zero Effect by channeling it into a concentrated stream of energy that induces phase transition; which is the change from one physical state to another- in other words, it is similar to what happens when anti-matter comes into collision with its corresponding matter, resulting in the release of massive amounts of energy. The Spacetime Convergence Cannon is located within Tsuruko's abdomen—when activating it, her abdomen opens up, revealing an enormous cannon. Once activated, the zero particles are accelerated until they reach high speeds, carrying enough energy to vaporize anything it comes in contact with; no known defenses. Tsuruko's own Ardor fuels the attack, causing the zero particles to intensify by convergence and acceleration, before releasing it as an energy beam of immense power fired from the cannon, which, at full power, possesses enough force to turn an acre of desert into a sheet of molten glass. Against living beings, the Spacetime Convergence Cannon has enough firepower to vaporize almost anything outside of Soul Armour Knights in their Super Modes or Hyper Armourized Hellions. This cannon is among the most powerful weapons ever wielded, far outclassing even high-grade conventional weapons such as the complete Etherion and its successor, the Highlander. However, the Spacetime Convergence Cannon has a significant drawback; Tsuruko is required to anchor herself down onto the ground via foot locks or similar objects in order to successfully fire the weapon. This is due to immense kickback from firing the cannon, and without firm grounding, Tsuruko would either have her projection steered off target or even be thrown back. The Spacetime Convergence Cannon is strong enough to destroy a miniature black hole, possessing incredible range, amazing power and pin-point accuracy, able to hit a target in outer space and kill most enemies with a single shot- it is said that at full output, the cannon could annihilate an entire dimension.
"Gary: Birdy, my mum mentioned that it doesn't matter even if you can't get 100 friends once you graduate to your next class, you must find a real friend that you can treasure with the feelings of 100 people. Once you get this true friend that you can view as more important than anyone else, your future will be bright. Tsuruko: Then, I'll use the feelings of a hundred people to treasure you. Even if there's 100 people... no. No matter if it's a million or trillion people, even if the entire world views you as an enemy, I'll still be your friend."
— Gary Straights and Tsuruko Sejren, in their childhood, Innocent Origins
Some of Tsuruko's most prominent interactions are with Gary Straights, even after the "breakup" of sorts. The two used to be childhood friends and both considered each other best friends. In the present, their relationship is not good as it was in the past due to being separated for so long, but compared to other people that Tsuruko interacts with, she and Gary are very close; Giselle even notes that Tsuruko seems to be somewhat of a 'tsundere' towards Gary. After Tsuruko was forced to move away, she was traumatized by being separated from him; an event which triggered her desire to make friends with everyone, due to fear of losing a close friend once more. When the two eventually reunited, Tsuruko immediately recognized Gary as her childhood friend. However, to Tsuruko's dismay, Gary was unable to do the same, which is justified considering that Gary always thought of her as a boy and never really knew her true name in the past.
Gary deeply regrets that he couldn't say goodbye to "Birdy" and believes that this was the main reason why she ultimately became an outcast—often seeing dreams of his past friend, and trying to revise this past by using "time machine" that Alexis had invented; showing that the longing for each other is very much mutual. Even now, Tsuruko realizes that their past friendship is gone, and their relationship is that of two fellow students, not of childhood friends—much to her dismay. While appearing cold to Gary and only Gary, Tsuruko is continuously seen trying to make him remember their past. Whenever something romantic would happen between the two, both would blush and just brush it off; Tsuruko would sometimes remind Gary, but he just pretends to forget to avoid getting things awkward.
Interestingly, Tsuruko has some obvious affections for Gary, but due to shyness, inability to convey her feelings and pride, cannot say it out loud- and even then, it could easily be interpreted as just friendship on Tsuruko's part, if only butchered by Tsuruko's dislike of romance for a good part of the story. The two possess a truly powerful bond; Gary and Tsuruko are frequently seen together, Tsuruko referring to Gary as an important person to her—and the two possessing a bond that transcends any friendship or romantic relationship; being one of pure devotion. Gary would do anything for Tsuruko, and the feeling is mutual. However, their relationship slowly goes from affection to pure hate on Tsuruko's end as Gary left her all of a sudden. However, during the Old World arc, Gary finally revealed his true personality and reasons to her, and two decided to start off again as simply friends, not as the Gary of the past and "Birdy", but rather, as the current Gary and Tsuruko Sejren.
"Excellen: Haha, don't call me 'lady'. I'm more of a 'sir' than a 'lady' if you know what I mean. Well, what are you waiting for? Heya there, I'm Excellen Kilekion! All I know you as is All-Lovin' Girl from before—but I want to know you—not the idiot that embarrassed herself, the real you. Tsuruko: ...I'm Tsuruko Sejren. I-It's nice to meet you, Excellen...Kilizeon? Purugashion? Alphaeon? Sorry, your name is hard to pronounce... Excellen: Hahaha, don't worry about it! Just call me Cell, and I'll call you Sejjey. And! I'll be your friend here, you have my word!"
— Excellen Kilekion and Tsuruko Sejren, in their first meeting, La Pucelle
Out of Tsuruko's closest companions in the series, Excellen is the one who spends the most time with her. Upon her arrival at La Pucelle, Tsuruko was sorted into the Ōryu dorms, Excellen was the first to befriend her, stating that despite her lack of social skills, Excellen wanted to get to know the real Tsuruko, even coining the nickname "Sejjey" for Tsuruko. Even though the two are on different teams, Tsuruko and Excellen develop a close bond, as Tsuruko even lets Excellen carry her on her back whenever she offers to. As Excellen became more involved in Tsuruko's life, Excellen gave unyielding support to Tsuruko through everything, with or without Tsuruko's consent and/or knowledge to the point of following Team Daybreak on their missions and helping Tsuruko whenever she could.
The bond between Tsuruko and Excellen is, without a doubt, their strongest each—in fact, Excellen is perhaps the only character who does not betray, manipulate, or even be rude to Tsuruko throughout Daybreak's run, family members notwithstanding. Though Tsuruko can test Excellen's patience at times, as seen during the third part of the Esper Excellen arc regarding Excellen's father Phosphor (or whenever Tsuruko says/does something stupid in general), though she never misplaces her trust in her and always relies on her to do the right thing. They share a lot in common, like the same passion in regards to making people happy; and they're willing to support each other in the most difficult times. Indeed, it is noted that while Tsuruko doesn't like magicians and magic, the fact that Excellen is an Esper and one of the strongest magicians in the world doesn't really bother her at all. Whenever Tsuruko has an adventure to explore, she always comes to Excellen and asks her to come along, and Excellen is always ready to help.
Despite Tsuruko's clueless knowledge on most basic topics, such as Magic, Excellen has shown to be patient around her and often acts as her tutor, teaching her about what individual magics do while acting as a sort of 'mission control' for her during battles, often giving Tsuruko hints and tips, however, unlike others, Excellen has much confidence in Excellen's abilities and has no trouble with following her lead. It later turns out in the Esper Excellen Part II arc that Excellen is very much in love with Tsuruko; as she treats her much differently than anyone else does. Because of her heritage and reputation as a prodigy, Excellen never really had any close relationships as people were generally intimidated by her. The reason why she loves Tsuruko is because of her refusal to give up, to accept everyone, and her unbiased opinion on her. However, due to Tsuruko's pathological fear of getting closer to other people than a simple friendship, no matter if it is familial or romantic, Tsuruko rushed off after Excellen confessed her feelings, unable to properly handle them in a coherent manner- this causes Excellen to become relatively depressed, misunderstanding Tsuruko's actions as her being irked by such a thing, whereas she was a bit wigged out due to personal experiences. However, during the penultimate chapter of the arc, in a rush of emotion at seeing Excellen about to be killed by the dracolich while Tsuruko rushed towards them, she blurts out how she truly feels about Excellen, accepting the latter's feelings, at which point the two become a couple.
"Excellen: ...Why do you always jump in to protect me without thinking?! Do you think I'm in the way of your fists pulverizing your enemies!? Or is this some stupid honour crap?! Tsuruko: ...It's because I care about you! I-I...I love you, so I couldn't bear to see you hurt!"
Generally, Tsuruko and Excellen act like a married couple, normally being perfectly in-sync with each other. Even before the whole 'love confession' thing, the two tended to each other on "dates," holding hands, and even saying they love each other; they used to sleep in the same bed, say romantic things about each other, and act like a committed couple in many other ways. However, their relationship could be considered a unique one, as their relationship is portrayed as focusing more on emotional aspects/intimacy than physical due to both girls being relatively emotionally stunted no thanks to both not receiving much affection from others and their fractured childhoods, though heavy hints are often dropped as one-off gags -and a very important scene near the end of S2- that they're very physical at night.
Excellen is also the only person able to keep Tsuruko's thoughts in the moment, frequently snapping her out of her imagination spots or preventing her from losing her temper. To Excellen, Tsuruko is a muse of sorts, as she represents a person whose singular drive and focus to excel at something propels them on to greater things, something that Excellen herself, who's always been dragged along by the flow, was unable to do- Tsuruko's desire to keep fighting to save people no matter the odds is something that inspires her constantly. It should be noted that in Infinity Future, Tsuruko is willing to not only give up Gaiki, which she referred to as her "partner", to save Excellen, but destroy it with her Zero Effect, that, as far as she knew, would irrevocably render it useless. This is especially telling of their relationship, as Tsuruko was normally emotionally vulnerable regarding Gaiki, as it was one of two things her father left her before his death, and yet, she gave it up to save Excellen without a second thought, despite the latter's protests.
At the end of Daybreak S2, Excellen uses the Philosopher's Stone to become the next Exalt of Aether, Tsuruko goes with her to ensure that she wouldn't be lonely, and because Excellen asked her to, serving as her right-hand in all matters. It is implied that the two are married by the time of Dawn, as during S3, Excellen managed to convince Tsuruko to stop fighting and settle down after they've defeated Devius; something to note is that Tsuruko absolutely adores the thrill of battle, and early in S1 stated that she wouldn't give up until she'd stopped all evil. However, Excellen asking such a thing seems to be the only exception to this.
Tsuruko and Rosa, resting after their battle with Bahamut.
Rosa is Tsuruko's best friend, even postmortem. The two have been together since Tsuruko joined La Pucelle Academy, in which the two first meet. They have been best friends for so long that they share a sisterly relationship. The two got off without any problems; as Rosa stepped in to defend Tsuruko from Kaguya Kobayashi when the snooty royal was berating her from the "grave" crime of bumping into her; Rosa indeed did send Kaguya packing with a harsh speech which utterly destroyed her self-esteem. The two quickly became close friends- deciding that they would partner up in teams throughout their stay at the academy, with Rosa teaching Tsuruko a special handshake. It was shown that Rosa, while usually level-headed, often dragged Tsuruko through odd "shortcuts" to make it to school, with the two going through some serious hurdles in the process. As the stakes grew more and more and Rosa became more involved in Tsuruko's life, she gave unyielding support to Tsuruko through everything, with or without Tsuruko's consent and/or knowledge. It was revealed part-way during Daybreak S1 that Rosa hacked the school system of La Pucelle in order to put Tsuruko in the Ōryū dorm and fixed it so that she herself would take Excellen's place in Seiryū to make sure she would be on Tsuruko's team. Mysteriously and secretly, Rosa also watched many of Tsuruko's fights with Hellions allied with the Zodiac Knights from afar when others are not, or with anything related with the Hellions or Dragons. Even before they met, Rosa witnessed Tsuruko's fight with the low-class Hellion at Bevelle from a window inside an abandoned building, smiling as she watched Tsuruko finished her enemy off.
Soon after Tsuruko revealed that she was a Deus Machina, Rosa mysteriously left for parts unknown for several weeks, leaving Tsuruko devastated and wondering if Rosa didn't want anything to do with her since she found out that she was a robot. However, Tsuruko, when on a trip to Era with Kaguya, met Rosa once more, and although Tsuruko attempted to press the questions, Rosa simply dodged most of them and just joked around with her friend as usual, to which Tsuruko resigned herself to. They later met again, where Marisa Sejren, Tsuruko's cousin, accused Rosa of breaking her leg. After hearing this, Tsuruko became doubtful and began to question her character. Soon after, Joker, the leader of the Zodiac Knights attacked Tsuruko and Marisa -as Rosa had assumed her Hellion guise to see if she actually had it in her to take Tsuruko's life, as manipulating her was beginning to hurt Rosa more than it would Tsuruko. During the middle of the fight, when Rosa/Joker knocked Tsuruko/Gaiki down and was about to land the finishing blow, Rosa stopped in her tracks, throwing her sword away and slowly walking off, unable to bring herself to hurt Tsuruko. An hour later, Rosa returned, only to see Tsuruko angrily question her her attacking her cousin, though Rosa later explained the situation, deciding to come clean about being Joker.
After seeing Rosa's usual good-natured intentions, Tsuruko restored her faith in her friend and tried to keep her out of danger; though Rosa found out about what Tsuruko was doing and was saddened that she didn't trust her as a friend and was leaving her behind. When Mr. E attacked, Tsuruko did her best to protect Rosa, even though it hindered her as E activated his Dragon Promotion, and Rosa was unwilling to take sides, however, when she saw how Tsuruko was willing to defend her at all costs, Rosa started to protect Tsuruko and revealed her true form as Berserk Light Dragon Indra. They worked together to defeat E and formed a Limit Break from their bonds, the Dragorize Kick, where Rosa in her dragon form launched Tsuruko towards E with a tail strike, Tsuruko landing the decisive blow with her Victorize Kick. Later, Rosa explained to Tsuruko about her mission and told her that she needed to keep it a secret from everybody else. She also told Tsuruko that she sincerely considered her as a friend and joked that Tsuruko was now her "lackey". Their bond repaired, Tsuruko also gained a level of admiration and respect for Rosa, noting that she always wanted a dragon as a best friend when she was little.
During Daybreak S2, Tsuruko and Rosa reunite, the two travelling to Draconia and learning more about the origins of dragonkind. Rosa learns that she is destined to sacrifice her life to save the person closest to her and become stronger than ever in the process. When Mr. E tracks Tsuruko down in an attempt to "free" Rosa from her "influence", Rosa uses herself as a human shield for his Tyrant Breaker in her dragon form, getting a hole torn through her body and dying in Tsuruko's arms. Holding Rosa's body in her arms, Tsuruko shouted her name in anguish. However, in those last moments, Rosa truly did become stronger than ever, as she ascended to become an Elemenian, the High Elemenian of Light, Eltanin. Rosa then took the form of the DB Armament, Dragonic Lance, which Tsuruko would use as her primary armament for the rest of the Sun Trilogy.
Tsuruko and Kaguya, immediately after Kaguya's arc.
Kaguya Kobayashi and Tsuruko Sejren's relationship and interactions get off to a bad start when Tsuruko knocks her over by accident when entering La Pucelle and nearly blows them both up. This small event solidifies Kaguya's opinion of her for the rest of S1; considering Tsuruko beneath her because of her background as a drifter/hobo, her childish behaviour, her lack of knowledge regarding magic-related terms, and her supposed 'rudeness' towards her which is simply Tsuruko being completely informal with her as she is with everyone else. When Tsuruko offers to try and make it up to her, Kaguya tells her she can start by leaving her alone. This continues late into S1 until Kaguya has to go see her parents, visibly worried about her lack of progress regarding her development until Tsuruko offers to accompany her after Excellen wouldn't give Kaguya the time of day.
When their train gets derailed, the two team up to fight off some criminals. At first, Kaguya doesn't think much of Tsuruko's abilities, seeing herself as vastly superior in combat; however, the moment that Tsuruko utilizes the Zero Effect to disintegrate an Altairis attack before using her super strength to fling the assailant into the distance surprises her greatly; though she still considers her to have a bad stance and their lack of communication and coordination drastically hampers their effectiveness. Even so, she later thanks Tsuruko for her assistance under her breath. Ironically, Kaguya became an ardent supporter of Tsuruko's alter ego as Gaiki after Tsuruko-as-Gaiki saved her, despite popular opinion against 'him'; even going as far as to make a Gaiki Fan Club; inviting everyone except Tsuruko to join and scared away reporters when they tried to interview people about their reasons for hating the Soul Armour Knight. It is hinted that Kaguya has a crush on Gaiki; despite her hatred of Soul Armours, she seems willing to put such a thing aside in this case. When Tsuruko tells her that she's Gaiki, Kaguya doesn't believe her; even when evidence for it constantly mounts up—to the point that when Tsuruko transforms next to her, she deliberately ignores it.
However, in all seriousness, as their arc together progresses, Kaguya finally gets to see for herself why a lot of people like Tsuruko when Tsuruko sticks up for her when her family begins berating her for not accomplishing more, and later when Tsuruko tanks an attack meant for her launched by Aquarius. Moved by Tsuruko's compassion, even when she'd treated her like crap, Kaguya quietly muses to herself that she'd begin treating her better from "now on". Their friendship is then finally solidified when Kaguya later admits to before how she knew it, she ended up in a "group of losers" and how she cannot escape what is known as a bond. She later ended up using her family's money to pay to build the Icarus Bridge that connects Four to Hargeon as Tsuruko and her old friends always wanted, sapping all of their wealth.
While Tsuruko and Deen's relationship started off on a sour note, though only for the latter, Deen was shown to be touched by the former's kindness towards him, even though he had arrested her on the charges of being rather suspicious. As Tsuruko told Deen to not give up on his dream of being a superhero, the words struck him on a high note; as she gave him one of her rings and left. This caused him to become intrigued by her, seeing her as somebody other than any other supernaturally inclined person—until he had met Tsuruko, the supernatural-inclined people that Deen had encountered in his profession were cruel and arrogant, even those under Legal Guilds. His impression of her was further softened after he witnessed her petting a kitten on La Pucelle grounds. When his superiors instructed him to infiltrate La Pucelle, Deen immediately jumped at the chance—not for the higher pay, but for the chance to meet Tsuruko once more. After posing as a student and a later bodyguard for Team Daybreak, Tsuruko and Deen had become friends officially.
Deen is shown to be a bit of a tsundere towards Tsuruko, being somewhat harsh to her, but deep down, he cares; as he doesn't openly admit that he worries or cares about Tsuruko, usually feigning anger and yelling at her, which only makes Tsuruko smile because she can tell Deen's true feelings. In dire situations, Deen openly shows concerns and proclaimed he will do anything to protect Tsuruko from danger. It was shown many times that Deen holds some sort of affection for Tsuruko; showing a non-stoic side when he is close to her or when she is being kind to him—while normally being cold, Deen will listen to Tsuruko's words and advice even when he is angry. However, Tsuruko's love turns out to be more of a platonic one- more like a sibling love than anything else- and since Deen himself is nearly a decade older than her, and Deen wasn't really interested in her in such a way.
While Deen has to return to his job as Alexis' own bodyguard in the Magic Council, the two at some date give each other their phone numbers and call each other a lot. Tsuruko herself states that talking to Deen doesn't inspire nervousness in her, presumably because of his generally easygoing nature; she thinks of Deen as a cool 'big brother' of sorts, because despite his no-nonsense attitude when it comes to his job, he's relatively kind and likes making jokes. When Tsuruko punches Alexis in the face and breaks her arm because the council had experimented on Hikari, resulting her being thrown in jail, Deen used his influence to break her out; even though Deen felt conflicted about it, insisting that he was a failure as a person and a Rune Knight, Tsuruko curtly contradicted him, telling him that he did what he believed was the right thing, and that is what a true hero would do. This talk is one of the reasons why Deen decided to subtly help the Tsuruko Faction against the Magic Council when Alexis tried to shut La Pucelle down.
Zanma Zaitsuhara
Out of all of her friends, Tsuruko has the least interaction with the samurai. In fact, Tsuruko didn't even know that Zanma existed until Daybreak S2 despite being introduced in the third arc of the original series. Mostly, the two don't talk much, though when instructed to do so by Giselle, Zanma will occasionally help Tsuruko in battle. However, in Daybreak S2, Tsuruko generally asks Zanma questions regarding her mother, as from her point of view, Zanma seems to know the most about the woman, though he admits that he actually doesn't know much about her personally, as he finds her difficult to decipher at times. However, Zanma does reassure her that he wouldn't have worked for Giselle for so long if she didn't care about other people.
Sion Kenzaki and Tsuruko Sejren started off on opposite sides of the Zodiac Knights-humanity conflicts; with Sion serving as a high-ranking grunt, the Ouroboros, and Tsuruko being a student at a school which taught magicians how to fight. Their first meeting was in Blessed Wind, where Sion initially looked down on Tsuruko, seeing her as nothing but a "spanner in the works", though in their first encounter, Sion simply let Tsuruko (and by extension Deen and Kaguya, who were with her) off with a warning. Though they would meet again in the next arc, Tsuruko spent a lot of time thinking about Sion, as even though her words and actions were relatively antagonistic, Tsuruko could feel a hint of anger and pain inside of her. At that point, Tsuruko began to believe that Hellions weren't all completely malicious.
During their second encounter in Might Makes Right, Tsuruko and Sion fought for the very first time, the two got into a philosophical argument, with Sion expressing anguish over the fact that everything about her was stolen from her, her identity made into something else, and now that she was in a different dimension, she was no longer herself, as her counterpart would eventually be born. However, in the end, Tsuruko's words won Sion over, convincing her that even though her race was born from despair, she wasn't forced to be a bad person just because of her origins. While Sion attempted to accept Tsuruko's hand and friendship, Kirika Hotsuin interrupted the two, causing Sion to instinctively shield Tsuruko from her attack. While Sion ran off to help those endangered by the bomb blast, she promised Tsuruko that they would see each other once more.
During Sion's own arc, as she struggled with the moral implications and supposed impossibility of a 'good Hellion', she continually thought back to Tsuruko's words, who told her that her Armourize form was a reflection of her soul- a quasi-angelic being with gigantic azure wings. The realization that no matter what she was, she has the potential to become a hero is what enabled Sion to sync with the Progress Driver and become Soul Armour Knight Agito, a direct evolution of her Armourize form, a supposed force of evil, into a power used for justice. During the events of this arc, despite Tsuruko not being there, Sion developed a strong trust towards her, as they both wished for everyone to be equal. This is what caused Sion to entrust Tsuruko with information on the Zodiac Knights, telling a third-party to pass it onto her.
Despite their similar goals and desires, Sion's personality and experiences are in stark contrast to Tsuruko's, as even though both wish to make everyone smile, while Tsuruko's persona is entertaining, Sion's on the other hand, is dark and cold; though Sion is overly serious and Tsuruko is generally quite wacky, the two get along rather well whenever they encounter each other, to the point that Tsuruko told her that she was now a honourary member of Team Daybreak when Sion finally decided to join them in fighting Amadam's Empire in Daybreak S2. It can be said that Sion's refusal to go to extremes to get humanity to see Hellions as equals comes from Tsuruko's words to her about how anger simply makes everyone unhappy in the end.
Allies of Justice
The Allies of Justice (正義の味方「Ａ・Ｏ・Ｊ」, Seigi no Mikata) were a group of four exceptionally talented fighters whom all grew up in the Chateau des Tiffauges in Four. The quartet ran around the city, destroying what they perceived as oppression and a desire to pull off something big within the city of Four. Tsuruko was one of the founding members of the group, as Charlotte Merquise, her very first friend and only companion for the longest time, decided that they should do something about the polluted state of their home. While they managed to conquer Four, the team later disbanded due to Charlotte's questionable acts, as her personality soon began to change. This led up to an incident where Charlotte attempted to challenge the Magic Council, starting with causing an explosion inside their headquarters in Four, managing to mortally wound a Wizard Saint before Tsuruko came back and stopped her from finishing her enemy off. However, this ended in Charlotte seeing Tsuruko trying to convince the council to let her go, and she mistakenly believed that Tsuruko had her purposely arrested.
Charlotte was Tsuruko's very first friend- the two met at the Chateau des Tiffauges in Four; where Tsuruko was taken in by the "nice lady at the orphanage", whom found Tsuruko with her father's Driver Belt. In the orphanage, Charlotte stood up for her as some older children began to pick on her—the two teamed up to fight them off, with Tsuruko accidentally showing her super strength for the first time by crushing a bully's arm with a grab. After this, the two were placed in detention. During their short hour in detention, Charlotte and Tsuruko became fast friends, with Charlotte giving Tsuruko her nickname, and told her about her idol, "Phoenix Knight", a legendary superhero who saved those in need, inadvertently sparking Tsuruko's interest in superheroes; the two were told countless tales about the Phoenix Knight by the "nice lady at the orphanage" after she heard Charlotte mention her. The two, along with Jack Titus and Carmine Fairchild, founded the gang known as the Allies of Justice, who went around defeating rival gangs and making things safe for civilians.
Tsuruko had a higher respect and concern for Charlotte than Jack and Carmine as she was the only one who stayed when the Allies of Justice went their separate ways due to Charlotte's increasingly extreme behaviour, to the point that she tried to give herself up to the Magic Council in order to save Charlotte from punishment, even if it went horribly wrong. Even after Charlotte returned later on with a major chip on her shoulder against Tsuruko, and attempted to make Tsuruko's life a living hell by harming everyone that she cared about, Tsuruko continued to try to save Charlotte without giving up hope on her very first friend; refusing to take chances to attack her that could prove fatal in their battle even though lives were at stake. During their final battle, as Charlotte almost fell from the skyscraper the two had momentarily landed on, Tsuruko extended her hand to offer her help, hearkening back to the occasion where Charlotte risked her life to save Tsuruko when they were children. However, Charlotte rejected it, and attempted to resolve to send Tsuruko to hell. Even so, however, when it appeared that Charlotte had seemingly killed Hikari, whom Tsuruko had spent the entirety of Daybreak S1 trying to save her little sister, Tsuruko lost control and entered her Deus Machina Mode for the second time, seconds away from savagely beating Charlotte to a pulp before she stopped herself from giving into hate, proceeding to defeat Charlotte on her own terms with the Victorize Kick Version 5, freeing her from the mysterious existence's influence.
By this, Tsuruko's faith in her was shown to be not misplaced as Charlotte used the last of her strength at the time to protect an immobile Tsuruko and Hikari from falling debris by using her body as a shield and in the end, not only did she make peace with Tsuruko, she told her that she had another purpose besides revenge when she accepted the offer of the mysterious figure; long ago, Tsuruko and Charlotte used to fight to see who was stronger, and Charlotte wanted to have one final match with her best friend. Soon after this, Tsuruko and Charlotte fought the mysterious existence together, defeating the demon once and for all with their Victorize Kick and Dragorize Kick respectively, with Tsuruko Sejren and Charlotte Merquise parting on good terms once more.
However, some time later, Charlotte was placed under arrest by the Magic Council for several years of terrorism and assassinations, even though she was under mind-control the entire time. After learning about this, Tsuruko, against the wishes of everyone else, goes to rescue her friend and take her somewhere safe, thus leading to a deadly chase across Era that results in scores of people killed through collateral damage. Tsuruko argues to the council that she isn't to blame for what she did under the mysterious existence's control, Charlotte knows that her brainwashing could be triggered at any time, and she feels she needs to make sure this cannot happen. As a result, Tsuruko becomes a fugitive in her defense of Charlotte, as she displays that she's willing to defend Charlotte's innocence at any cost, so much so that Charlotte herself questions if she's worth the trouble, and nobody but her and those steadfastly loyal to her believe that Charlotte is innocent of the crimes she's been framed for. Amusingly, it's revealed during the Esper Excellen two-parter that Charlotte was the one who taught Tsuruko how to haggle regarding food.
Jack Titus
Not much is known about Tsuruko's relationship with Jack, though in her and Charlotte's conversation during their reunion, she mentions missing him as he was the one to teach her how to be a comedian. While Jack has become the Cancer Hellion of the Zodiac Knights, she's capable of seeing who he is, and often urges him to stop what he's doing whenever they interact, though he doesn't even know who he is due to his memories before he became a Hellion being wiped, and such, he fights her as ferociously as he would the Zodiac Knights' other enemies- though success is rare, as before finding out the connection between her old friend and the Cancer Hellion, Tsuruko had hacked off one of his arms with her Zero Blades and later smashed him through a wall with her Victorize Kick.
Carmine Fairchild
Like her relationship with Jack, not much is known about Tsuruko's relationship with Carmine, though she mentions her in relation to Kaguya, as both girls are heavily fashion-oriented. While the two interact when Carmine is the Gemini Hellion, Tsuruko and Carmine display animosity towards each other, though both don't know who each other is, with Gemini being the one to "out" Tsuruko's nature as a Deus Machina to the world. When Tsuruko finds out that Carmine and Gemini were the same person, and that Kirika had killed Gemini some time ago, this reignites Tsuruko's desire to fight Kirika once more.
Other
Gaiki
"Charlotte: In the end, you really are just like me, Tsuruko. There's no "hope", no "justice"- you just want to get revenge for losing your dear old dad. You're not a hero. You're just another wannabe, driven by tragedy- Gaiki: Silence! Tsuruko: ...Eh? Charlotte: Who's that!? Gaiki: That petulant rant has just displayed the differences between you and Tsuruko to the world. Tsuruko: Gaiki...? Gaiki: Don't give us such a petty bunch of words ever again, you insolent newt. That is a repellent statement. It's a vomitous insult to every person, no matter who they are, who steps up to fight for those who can't. Tsuruko fights...Tsuruko fights, because she doesn't want to see other people suffer. She refuses to retract her hands to people in despair no matter what, so that she can give them hope. ...Tsuruko, stand up. This person, even if you were close beforehand, doesn't seem to understand what it really means to be a real hero. Now... Tsuruko: ...You're right. ...it's showtime! [F-F-F-FACE OPEN] Tsuruko: Charlotte! I'm sorry for everything, but if you genuinely believe that only drowning in despair can motivate anyone to take up a cause... then you're about to get corrected."
Tsuruko's relationship with Gaiki is a special one. Although Gaiki is just a armour to many people, Tsuruko has always referred to the armour as its own sentient being; always counting on it to support her throughout her battles, referring to Gaiki as part of herself, seeing it as a person rather than a machine. Moreso, it can be said that Gaiki is the living embodiment of Tsuruko's dreams to be a superhero, or rather, to become somebody as loved and heroic as 'Phoenix Knight', rather than a Soul Armour proper. She refers to Gaiki as her "avatar" in battle. It is implied, and later outright stated, that Tsuruko has an empathetic connection with her Soul Armour because of her strong bond with it and her constant belief that Gaiki is sentient, making Gaiki much stronger than other Soul Armours. Gaiki itself possesses an advanced AI system, which gave it a personality of its own; it is highly temperamental, and refuses to let anyone except Tsuruko harness its full power, meaning that not only does Tsuruko respect Gaiki, but Gaiki was also the one who chose Tsuruko. The close bond that Tsuruko shares with Gaiki often leads to them "speaking" with one another and joking with each other; this deep synergy, as well Gaiki and Tsuruko's nature of both being robotic, allows Gaiki to install data directly into Tsuruko's brain, allowing the Soul Armour to suggest special attacks and abilities for Tsuruko to utilize in battle, which is how the Chaser Smash Limit Break and Illegal Move Change Gaiki ability come about. Additionally, Tsuruko is even seen sleeping while gripping Gaiki's Driver Belt form tightly on occasion. As a contrast to the other Prototype Soul Armours, who disliked their numerous owners from the very beginning, Gaiki is the only Prototype Soul Armour that is cooperating with Tsuruko by its own free will, proven by the fact that when Devius uses his Armour Driver Canceller to deactivate the armours and summon them to him, Gaiki is unaffected.
A prominent example of Tsuruko's bond with Gaiki is noticed in the Ending Story Part I arc of S1 where Gaiki, in its belt form, not only awakens Tsuruko when she is knocked unconscious by Charlotte during their first encounter, the Soul Armour immediately allows her to transform without Tsuruko revving the Drive Lever, it downloads coordinates to where Hikari is being held. When Gaiki, along with the other Soul Armours, was sealed away in Daybreak S3, Tsuruko's immediate priorities were to get it back, going through numerous trials in the process. While it is revealed that the Prototype Soul Armours are indeed sentient in S3, Gaiki is the very first to show sentience during S1, which only drives home the belief for Tsuruko that she and Gaiki always been fighting together as it told her that they've always been 'one and the same'. While other people brushed these occurrences off as Tsuruko talking to herself, it was in reality Tsuruko and Gaiki conversing- this deep bond allowed Tsuruko to figure out that the Soul Armours were sentient before anyone else managed to connect the dots. Another example of Gaiki showing clear sentinence is also in the chapter Gaiki's Voice: Face Open! of Daybreak S1, where Charlotte snaps at Tsuruko for "hypocrisy" as Charlotte perceived Tsuruko to keep fighting those whom she deems as "bad" because she misses her father, making her as selfish as Charlotte herself and couldn't have a higher ground; however, Gaiki voices loud and clear that Tsuruko's reason for fighting is selfless, and thus, Gaiki recognizes the inner strength that defines her beliefs- that is why Tsuruko is worthy of Gaiki's power, and the reason why the two are synchronized. In fact, Gaiki was what saved Tsuruko from a nasty fall after she and Alphonse were knocked off a cliff in the past- as it manifested for her for the first time to cushion their impact; and it has saved her numerous times, whether Tsuruko was aware of it or not. Gaiki is willing to protect Tsuruko no matter what, going over the limits of the sixty seconds of transformation of other Soul Armours in order to allow Tsuruko to keep fighting frequently.
Raptor
Tsuruko's relationship with the Mass Produced Soul Armour, Raptor is very loose in comparison to her unbreakable bond with Gaiki. Tsuruko obtained Raptor during the special Daybreak: Infinity Future, after "Dzerve Sejren" took her own Soul Armour and its Driver Belt from her when she attempted to fight the black Gaiki. After this, Marisa arrived and gives her a Lev Driver Honoo and Change Ring, telling her that it's "early access", before she leaves with Derrick to fight the Future Symbiotes. At first, she displayed distaste for the Mass-Production Model Soul Armour due to her belief that a Soul Armour is part of its wielder- every armour should be unique. The idea of multiples of a Soul Armour unnerved her a bit. Even so, she named her temporary Soul Armour Hotaru (ホタル, Hotaru; Firefly) after its red colour. Finding the Mass-Produced Soul Armour (albeit customized for her usage) quite troublesome to harness properly as Tsuruko was all about close-range combat, displaying little to no proficiency with the armour, immediately discarding the Soul Armour's weapons, mainly because she preferred to fight hand-to-hand and she can't use magic, constantly mistiming jumps and not understanding the armour's damage threshold due to continuously forgetting that she isn't using Gaiki, which has drastically higher parameters; as a result, during most of Infinity Future, Tsuruko was barely able to keep up against regular Hellions due to her reckless fighting style.
However, it was about then that her father's advice rang true in her heart- "understand the partner, and together, your power will be at its peak". During her fight with the Dragon Hellion, Tsuruko's willpower manages to affect the Soul Armour, granting it the capabilities of a "true" Soul Armour, also evolving it into a new form more suited to Tsuruko's fighting style, allowing her to defeat her opponent near-effortlessly. Gaining a will of its own, Hotaru worked in tandem with Tsuruko to assist her in fighting off "Dzerve's" armies of Hellions and "Dzerve" herself- even knowing that Tsuruko would always choose Gaiki over itself, Hotaru hoped to make the one who gave it life happy by bringing back her very soul, and thus, in the final battle against "Dzerve", now revealed as the Paradox Hellion, Hotaru automatically deactivated the transformation in a risky gambit, with its Driver Belt flying into the Paradox Hellion, knocking the demon down while Tsuruko attempted to grab the Phoenix Driver from the Paradox Hellion and wrest the demon's influence from the belt, with Hotaru's belt form immobilizing the Paradox Hellion long enough for Tsuruko to do so. However, as a result, the Lev Driver Honoo -and Hotaru- were destroyed. During that final battle, Tsuruko later told the Paradox Hellion that both Gaiki and Hotaru were her very soul, deciding to defeat her enemy not for the sake of the future, but also for revenge for Hotaru.
Tsuruko and Giselle, despite being mother and daughter, have a rather fractured relationship for most of Daybreak. When Tsuruko was born while Alphonse was still alive and the family weren't separated, Giselle would often take a young Tsuruko stargazing; even now, Tsuruko remembers being held by her mother and watching stars together; since then, she always made sure to count stars on the night sky. This was one of the things that plagued her after being adopted and coming to believe that Ashley Briett was her mother, as Tsuruko remembered those times from before, though she could never determine the voice and appearance of her mother for a long time. When they first met, Giselle paid the Rune Knights to let Tsuruko go after Tsuruko was imprisoned, before charging her to help her find Hikari Zanna, her other child. While Tsuruko's opinion of Giselle was simply 'a bit kooky', she actually harboured a jealous sentiment towards her in the beginning due to her intelligence and her condescending nature. On Giselle's side, even though Giselle is annoyed by Tsuruko when they first met, she softens up with time even before the big reveal.
On the other hand, when it came to Giselle's alter ego, the Phoenix Knight, Tsuruko was her biggest fan before she knew that Phoenix Knight and Giselle were one and the same. Even before she met Phoenix Knight face-to-face, Tsuruko grew up watching the licensed television show about the Soul Armour Knight and owned various memorabilia of her hero; Phoenix Knight inspired Tsuruko in her dream to become a superhero. When Tsuruko was trapped during the Eclipse Ritual and attacked by one of the newly-born Hellions, she was saved by the mysterious Phoenix Knight- though Giselle didn't know of their relation at first. Giselle, at Phoenix Knight, would come to Tsuruko's aid numerous times, when Alexis nearly defeated her and kidnapped Hikari, and once more after Kirika threatened to kill a defeated Tsuruko.
When Tsuruko finds out that Giselle and Phoenix Knight are one and the same, and more importantly, Giselle is her birth mother, Tsuruko becomes enraged and denies their connection- this revelation seems to be the breaking point for Tsuruko's psyche as she becomes depressed and generally apathetic, though Gary's departure and outing herself as a robot didn't help in quick succession right before learning of her parentage didn't do any wonders. Even after recovering from her slump, Tsuruko remains fairly rude to Giselle, refusing to talk to her and getting other people to relay messages to her. Giselle, on her end, actually has no real clue on how to deal with children, and generally remains rather snarky and bitter when talking with Tsuruko, although it's easily noticeable that Giselle is still nicer to her daughter than she is anyone else; as she never swears around her or strikes her.
One thing that never changed is that Tsuruko means the world to Giselle, no matter how angry they get at each other, her daughter is one of three people she still cares about, the others being Hikari, her other 'child', and Zanma, her old war buddy; and while threatening any three of these people can and will set her off, Giselle gets angrier than usual if anyone tries to harm or otherwise fool around with Tsuruko; in fact, whenever Tsuruko's life is in danger, Giselle tends to perform many of her more morally ambiguous actions, such as digging up an ancient weapon of mass destruction and putting Tsuruko's soul into it in order to prevent her from dying from an incurable disease. Other examples come from Giselle killing numerous Wizard Saints when they chase their family down, and completely draining the magic from Edolas' normal population through a Dimensional Siphon in order to power the device that would allow Giselle to remove Tsuruko's soul from her sickly body and put it in the Deus Machina frame without any further damage.
During the final chapters of Daybreak S1, Tsuruko's opinion of her mother begins to turn around as Giselle denies herself landing a finishing blow on Elucifer's Thought Projection, the Libra Hellion, when the latter had finally obtained the Philosopher's Stone and was about to turn Earth Land into the Nega End, instead opting to run to her daughter and shield her from the majority of the nuclear fallout. When waiting for Tsuruko to awaken, she sets up an organization that fights Amadam's Empire while she personally searches for her daughter, even enlisting Gary Straights, who she previously attacked for going near Tsuruko, without any further complaint. Soon after, Giselle and Tsuruko finally make up as Gary and Kaguya lock them in a room together, forcing them to talk out their differences and hear each others' sides of the story of what happened when they were separated; at which point, Tsuruko accepts her relation with Giselle.
Even though Tsuruko and Excellen leave for Aether at the end of Daybreak S2, Giselle doesn't hold it against her as she would have before, instead cheerily (for her demeanour) greeting her once more in the Ragnarok arc of Dawn, where Tsuruko and several of the other Daybreak characters teamed up while Akatsuki was fighting Kagemusha to fight Chakravartin and put an end to the war. After all was said and done, Giselle, Kaguya, and Hikari returned with Tsuruko to Aether to get away from all the fighting; Giselle once more decided to attempt to try and become the mother both Tsuruko and Hikari never had in their lives.
Alphonse Sejren
Alphonse is Tsuruko's father, whom died a decade before Daybreak started. Tsuruko greatly loves and admires her father, dreaming to make people happy through her battles like he once did, and it is with her father's help, she shaped her belief that a good fight is fun and makes people happy. Alphonse was also the creator of Tsuruko's catchphrase "Now, it's showtime!" (さあ、ショータイムだ!, Saa, shōtaimu da!), which Tsuruko picked up as a way for him to still live on in a sense; Tsuruko had always said that because of the catchphrase, no matter how much people laughed at her and ridiculed her, because she always had those words with her, she felt like her father was always cheering her up. Even though Alphonse isn't in the world of the living anymore, her strong connection with him occasionally enables her to converse with his spirit when she's unconscious. As the Four Revival arc of Daybreak shows, Tsuruko goes home to Four to visit her father's grave routinely, often talking to her father about the events in her life, casually addressing him as if he were still there. Tsuruko's most prized possessions- her hair ribbon, and her Phoenix Driver- were both previously Alphonse's, and Tsuruko tends to get angry if anyone messes with them in any way.
It should be noted that seemingly thanks to Tsuruko's strong fighting spirit, Alphonse has been shown to appear various times over the course of Daybreak; the first instance of this is when Tsuruko ventures into the Source of Magic in Earth Land to fight Abyssion in the final arc of Daybreak S1. When Tsuruko managed to defeat Abyssion with her Victorize Kick Version 5, the villainous Guardian Fiend self-destructed, intending to destroy the Source of Magic and take Tsuruko -and the rest of Earth Land- with it. Having run out of energy, Tsuruko seemingly had no way of escape- however, Alphonse suddenly appeared out of thin air, guiding her out of the underground to safety as the magical energies around them began to explode, with Alphonse encouraging her all the way, telling Tsuruko how proud he was of her and complimenting how strong she'd become. Upon emerging from the underground, Alphonse disappeared into the skies. It is left ambiguous whether or not Alphonse was a ghost who willed himself down to the mortal plane to save his daughter or if Alphonse was simply an hallucination, brought about from Tsuruko getting seven shades of crap kicked out of her beforehand.
Tsuruko's relationship with Hikari is fairly strained at first on her part; mainly because while Tsuruko promised to save her from the council, numerous other factors in her life added up before she knew it, such as learning her true parentage and losing her closest link to her past, leaving her a nervous wreck that was unable to do so, causing Excellen to quickly retrieve her from the Magic Council with Deen's help. Even so, Hikari continued to look up to Tsuruko, also unaware of their relationship as siblings until Giselle simply told the both of them. As it turns out, Hikari was created by the Magic Council under Giselle's supervision in order to get a pardon for Giselle killing the previous Wizard Saints, using her own DNA and Alphonse's in order to create a "stabilized" Corpse Shell, thus technically making her Tsuruko's sister.
While Hikari was let down by Tsuruko's failure to save her, she still looked up to her as a source of inspiration, and she continued to attempt to forge a sibling bond, even when Tsuruko put on a façade of apathy (much like their mother) out of guilt regarding her failure. This all came to a head during the Childhood's End arc of S1, where Tsuruko privately told Excellen that she didn't know anything about being a good older sister; something the latter pointed out was a parallel with Giselle's inability to properly connect to her children. However, it quickly turned around in the same arc, where Charlotte Merquise, Tsuruko's former friend from her childhood, attacked Hikari in an attempt at getting revenge for Tsuruko supposedly selling her out. While Tsuruko had previously constantly attempted to reason with her old friend, she immediately stopped and decided that she wanted to kill her on the spot, culminating in Tsuruko instantly turning the battle around and using Gaiki's Arms Weapon for the first time.
After this, their relationship greatly improved, as Tsuruko would do anything it took to protect Hikari, even at the cost of her own life, often leading her to disregard the dangers of her Zero Effect in battle. Something that was always constant was when Hikari was in danger, Tsuruko underwent great panic and stress, to the point of not thinking clearly as her anger and worries took over. After Tsuruko had to leave Earth Land with Excellen to go to Aether in order to start a new world at the end of S2, Hikari was utterly devastated and tried to stop the two from leaving, before both of them consoled her, telling her that they'd be back once in a while once all of the Hellions were on Aether, allowing the Hellions themselves and the other dimensions to become safe once more.
However, it wasn't until a few decades later that Tsuruko could properly return, and even then Hikari had involuntarily taken a completely different form; that of Crux Kouga. While Excellen and Tsuruko watched Jason and Crux's final fight from Aether, Tsuruko couldn't help herself from cheering for Crux even though he was the 'bad guy'. When Crux was restored to Hikari by Giselle, Excellen had to stop Tsuruko from just going down to Earth Land and celebrate with her family, as they could only go to different dimensions for half an hour a year. Later on, during the Ragnarok arc, Tsuruko finally fulfilled her promise to Hikari of saving her, as Hikari was struck by Chakravartin, who had masterminded the entire Dawn installment. Tsuruko immediately jumped from Aether to Earth Land and defeated Chakravartin furiously. After this, the two parted on good terms, with Hikari promising to become strong enough to protect Earth Land in her stead.
Ashley Briett is Tsuruko Sejren's foster mother; she took Tsuruko in after finding her as a four year old with her dying father. Ashley raised Tsuruko as if she were her own daughter, to the point that Tsuruko seemed to forget who her actual mother was; instead, she thought Ashley and Alphonse were her parents, not helped by Ashley, not wanting to hurt Tsuruko, told her that they were. This, naturally, didn't go over well when Tsuruko told Giselle that she wouldn't have believed that she was her mother if Giselle came to retrieve her from the orphanage, and told her about Ashley- this resulted in Giselle trying to pick a fight with Ashley when they finally met as Giselle believed that Alphonse had an affair with her behind her back for a short while before the whole situation was diffused. Even when Tsuruko and her friends in the orphanage used to get in trouble with the authorities for stealing and trying to fight snobby rich kids who thought they were above everyone else, Ashley always bailed them out without fail. Ashley is responsible for teaching Tsuruko how to fight; even though she was reluctant to do so at first due to Alphonse asking her not to with his final words, after she saw Tsuruko mesmerized with the Phoenix Knight television show and having to reprimand Tsuruko after she accidentally crushed the arm of a bully at primary school, Ashley decided to train her, but only to the extent of self-defense, not anything advanced at first.
Soon before Tsuruko left to work with the Castellone Mafia, as one of Alphonse's friends found her, Ashley and Tsuruko got into an argument after Charlotte was arrested by the Magic Council, where Tsuruko was in a state of depression and then found out that she had another family and Ashley merely adopted her. When Tsuruko pressed her foster mother for answers about her actual family, Ashley simply acknowledged Tsuruko's obsession about finding her family, making an unsuccessful attempt to cover Giselle's face when she noticed that Tsuruko was leering at a photo of Ashley herself, Alphonse Sejren, Giselle Mercury, Suzuka Kobayashi, and Antony Castellone, the Team Daybreak before Tsuruko's era. The two left on sour terms on Tsuruko's end.
A few years later, mid-way through Daybreak S1, Tsuruko pays a visit to her foster mother, where Tsuruko told her happily about how she found her family, albeit it wasn't what she imagined it to be. However, Tsuruko then told her foster mother that she considered Ashley her mother as much as she did Giselle. The two are exceptionally close; out of all of Tsuruko's mentors/parental figures, Ashley is easily the most open with her, treating her more like an equal than a child. Ashley constantly jokes around with Tsuruko, with the two fist-bumping when Ashley hears of Tsuruko's fight against the Dracolich, proud of her adopted child's increasing power. Analyzing closely, one can see that quite a bit of Ashley's personality has rubbed off on Tsuruko, as the two are similarly lackadaisical, don't like reading, and enjoy close combat, though Ashley is generally more cool-headed nowadays. Ashley constantly encourages Tsuruko, telling her to move forward and not worry about the 'ifs' and 'buts', but rather, the 'wills', telling her to react as she sees fit.
Initially, both Tsuruko and Elucifer were unaware of the existence of one another; even later on, Elucifer expressed surprise at his sister having a child. However, Elucifer has managed to influence Tsuruko in a way that he couldn't possibly comprehend. A decade before Daybreak, Elucifer became the head of Caledfwlch Industries began to construct 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. Elucifer, 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; though it ended badly after the Magic Council stepped in and Elucifer vanished. The Bifrost Bridge became a legend often told to younger children in Four. The man who began the construction of the bridge was regarded as a hero, a symbol of freedom.
Tsuruko, as an orphan, looked up to the man in the story, hoping to connect people in the same way that the man once did, wishing to forge a world where there wasn't hatred based on differences, shaping her sad and angry delinquent personality into somebody who forgives everyone and loves everyone equally. While they only met in the climax of Daybreak S1 for the first time, Elucifer did not even properly acknowledge her existence, quickly stomping her like he did the rest of Team Daybreak, though he expressed confusion when his sister went to shield Tsuruko instead of defeating him before he activated the Nega End. After this incident, Tsuruko became depressed over her near loss and developed a fear of Elucifer; however, this was short-lived and Tsuruko became more confident when facing him, despite knowing the dangers. During their second bout, when Tsuruko asked Elucifer why he transformed the world, Elucifer only answered that he turned his back on "pathetic humans" in exchange for his wife's sake.
During their initial battles, Elucifer simply regarded Tsuruko as an annoyance, and even when he learnt that she was his niece, while he treated her, like the rest of his enemies, with an affable yet distant attitude, though he never went easy on her. When Tsuruko found out that Elucifer was the man who built the Bifrost Bridge, she was devastated, as for most of the story, she and Elucifer simply had a mutual dislike. When Tsuruko notices that Elucifer's constructed world was a place where everyone was happy, she resigned herself to giving up, until Jonas gave her a pep talk; though after learning of Elucifer's motives to bring his wife back to life, Tsuruko realized the similarities between the two- and she wanted to stop him from chasing ghosts, as she once did with her father. Though Tsuruko wasn't aware of his entire past, she did understand that desire to reunite with somebody deceased that they loved.
During their final battle they had at the end of Daybreak S2, Tsuruko and Elucifer continued to shout each other down, with Elucifer refusing to give up on bringing his wife back. However, during the fight, Elucifer's attitude began to slowly change, as he noticed that he cared if Tsuruko was a strong enemy- a once extinguished flame in Elucifer Mercury's heart was re-lit, the desire for a truly strong opponent; as they traded blows, Tsuruko slowly, but surely, brought out Elucifer's dormant hot-blooded nature and passion for fighting that he had buried deep inside himself for centuries. The fact that he was laughing and smiling once more allowed him to remember his wife's final words, for him to be happy and have a good life with their daughter. This caused his darkened Soul Armour to revert back to its gold and white colours, with its eyes turning blue once more, signifying his change of heart. Even though there was a double knockout, Elucifer's decision to revert the Nega End back to Earth Land was driven by the resurgence of old feelings caused by the battle. Though he soon vanished to parts unknown, Elucifer told Tsuruko that he would be happy to fight her as many times as she wants.
Despite Tsuruko meeting her grandfather at a later time in her life, the two don't really hold any ill-will towards each other. Tsuruko finally meets Jonas half-way during the Esper Excellen Part II arc, where he anonymously sends a letter to Marisa to give to Tsuruko so that she'd meet him near the biggest tree in Luin. Though she was wary of him due to, well, stranger danger, the two did show a certain amount of chemistry, cheerfully getting along as he challenged her to a game of Ascending Firebird Fight-o-mania, a "licensed game where the player only needed the buttons on the machine pressed with varying intensities to move and attack"; one of her favourite video games, which the two seemed to be competitive over in a friendly way. Indeed, instead of telling her who he was straight away, Jonas' goal was to get Tsuruko to finally relax, as she'd just been through quite a bit, such as Gary leaving, discovering the Old World, and much more; given that built-up stress was what caused one of his children, Elucifer Mercury to finally decide to destroy mankind, he didn't want another one of his relatives to be incapable of having a place to vent. When Jonas reveals his identity to her, Tsuruko was shocked at first, but she managed to regain her bearings and seemed almost excited to finally have a family member on her mother's side who she could talk to without feeling like she was asking questions to an emotionally-retarded brick wall. Though, when he tells Tsuruko that as the Exalted One of Earth Land, he can answer any question that she has, he appears to acknowledge Tsuruko's obsession about finding Gary, immediately deflecting the question- though this leads into her asking who killed her father, which was infinitely worse for him, as the truth was something he couldn't tell her without her completely shutting down. Sometime later, Jonas began teaching his granddaughter a proper fighting style so that she wouldn't be wasting energy in battle by throwing her power around.
When they meet up later during Daybreak S2, it is in Tsuruko's darkest hour; as Amadam's Nega End had created the "perfect world" for everyone, with only Excellen, Giselle, Gary, Sion, Tsuruko, Deen, Kirika, and Jonas being aware of how it was a mere fabrication. Seeing as though everyone was happy, Tsuruko was about to give up on fighting Amadam as she always put everyone's happiness before her own before Jonas stopped her; even though Tsuruko said it wouldn't be right robbing the happiness of those people just so she can get back her own place in the world, though Jonas understood this, he but asked Tsuruko if she ever fought because it was the right thing to do, or if she ever punched people because they were evil. Tsuruko hesitated to answer, to which Jonas smiled, answering for her, saying that she had never used those reasonings then, and there should be no reason to allow those reasonings to crush her now. Tsuruko pointed out that the reasoning will only save her, but Jonas simply told her not to lie, pointing out that Tsuruko should know that Amadam cheated to make the perfect world that could make Tsuruko fall into despair, as she didn't want them to be reminded of the original world as they'll only reject their "perfect world" just to save her.
Hearing this, Jonas then asked Tsuruko a question, without all moral dilemmas and mysteries surrounding life, asking her if it doesn't bother her that Amadam just appeared out of nowhere and stole everything she had built up. Although the question was simple, it cut deep into Tsuruko's heart as she became silent for a few minutes, before she cried out how much it pissed her off, cursing about how much she wanted to kick Amadam's ass for making her life meaningless easily through his power, and even though Amadam could easily take away and destroy the perfect world made to crush her underfoot, he still achieved something that she could not. Jonas listened to her, relieved that she was not a perfect saint after everything he had said to her. While Tsuruko thought that if she defeated Amadam and returned the original world, the weight of her win destroying the happiness of the people in the perfect world would crush her heart, Jonas simply told her that she might be right, but he asked her why she feels the need to place herself below everyone else, telling his granddaughter that there is nothing wrong with deciding prioritizing herself just this one time, as it was fine to save herself when she should save others equally. Tsuruko said that even though it may be conceited and will not make everyone happy, she wanted to go back. Satisfied with her answer, Jonas shrugged and in a carefree manner told Tsuruko to surprise Amadam.
While the two don't really interact past this point in a meaningful manner, when Jonas and Tsuruko briefly meet during Dawn's finale as Tsuruko had returned to Earth Land to fight Chakravartin, she greets him with childish glee, with Jonas fist-bumping her as she left for Aether once more. Something interesting to note is that small aspects of Jonas' personality reflect on Tsuruko, albeit more cool-headed and nonchalant, rather than relatively aggressive and loud.
Extended Family
When Tsuruko and Excellen journeyed to Luin in order to try and cure Hikari from her curse mark, Tsuruko was excited about the prospect of possibly meeting her paternal family. However, she did meet them completely by accident, as the trio met Derrick Sejren at his meat stand; though while Tsuruko and Derrick were about to fight, Marisa intervened and pointed out their relation, inviting Tsuruko, Excellen, and Hikari to come back to the family mansion, where Tsuruko was excited about meeting her grandmother Sincera and everyone else for the first time, and rapidly formed a bond with them. Despite never having met any of them before, Marisa noted that Tsuruko fitted in rather well with the family, since a lot of them were similar -hot-headed, rather loud, and most importantly (or not), hyperactive. While Tsuruko was hesitant to tell Sincera about Alphonse's passing, eventually, she spilled the beans, and for perhaps the first time, she had somebody else to lean a shoulder on and speak about her father.
Alexis hugging her younger cousin after she had saved them from the Dragon Symbiote in Daybreak S3.
"Talking with Alexis wasn't bad, though I got a distinct 'I'm going to try and murder everyone with a laser from space and become a humanoid horror in thirty years' vibe from her."
Tsuruko is Kirika's equal and opposite. The two share as many similarities as they do differences, a fierce rivalry exists between both girls. Due to a meeting the two had when Kirika was fifteen and Tsuruko was seven, where the former bumped into the latter by accident and the latter apologized for Kirika's mistake, Kirika felt disgusted by this little girl, finding Tsuruko weak for apologizing to her instead of fighting her. Evidently, she wasn't in the sanest state of mind in those years, and Kirika simply wanted an individual to project her hatred towards the world on; Tsuruko was a perfect scapegoat, partly because her cheerfulness irritated her, and partly because she hated small children at that point in her life. Even long after that incident, Kirika hated Tsuruko with passion, especially after rumours grew about Tsuruko- there was one thing that pissed Kirika off the most about her; they'd both had terrible pasts where they lost their family, but Tsuruko could keep smiling whereas it just made Kirika angrier with the world. Just the sight of her was enough to send her into rage, which is why she decided to ignore instructions given to her by Joker to just harvest souls and went after Tsuruko and Sion Kenzaki by proxy during Might Makes Right, taking a perverse glee in throwing her around and knocking her into a coma.
However, after Tsuruko awakened Gaiki for the first time and defeated Kirika with the Phoenix Blaze attack during Showtime, Kirika slowly began to realize how Tsuruko was so powerful, though she couldn't fully comprehend it. Interestingly, Tsuruko's beatdown of Kirika seemed to have some sort of effect on her personality, as from that point onwards, her psychopathic traits were massively downplayed. Kirika came to realize that she subconsciously admired Tsuruko and she was jealous of the fact that no matter what happened, no matter how much she was knocked down, Tsuruko would stand once more, as optimistic as ever. Deen even took a mental note that Kirika is "chasing after" Tsuruko and she wanted to be like her. Even so, she still held a dislike for her, as she generally didn't like her personality and she found her voice annoying; though it seemed at times that Kirika would make up reasons to hate Tsuruko. While Kirika claims that she doesn't care about Tsuruko, she does respect her strength and values her as an ally, albeit begrudgingly, but even so, Deen Lhant often has to act as a mediator between the two to make sure they can work together without ripping each others' heads off.
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. As she spends more time with Deen, Kirika slowly lets go of her hatred towards Tsuruko, as looking at her through a non-biased perspective and Tsuruko attempting to help her has allowed her to calm down significantly, though she still refuses to call her a 'friend', but then again, Kirika doesn't seem to want friends. Their rivalry, by the end of Daybreak S2 had turned into a friendlier one, with less aggressiveness between both parties, as Deen's influence has allowed her to realize that the ambition she sought was nothing more than an empty pipe dream, and taking Tsuruko's example into account, helped her come to terms with the fact that feelings are what makes somebody truly strong. In Daybreak S3, during the Old World Crisis, Kirika, without any problems, fought alongside Tsuruko and the others, trusting her enough to lend her powers to Tsuruko's ideas, having managed to become confident in regards to her strength in relation to Tsuruko's.
While Tsuruko and Devius never directly interact face-to-face, there is an animosity between the two. Devius is the one responsible for everything wrong in the Daybreak-Dawn eras of the Sun Trilogy, and indirectly killed Tsuruko's father by sending one of his top henchmen after Tsuruko's family after he learnt that she existed, and was transformed into a Deus Machina. Tsuruko, upon learning of his existences, wishes to remove him from existence for killing her father and screwing up the lives of nearly everyone she loves, whereas Devius frequently sends his numerous Hellions after Tsuruko and her friends, hoping to kill them as he himself cannot do the deed- since Tsuruko's Power of Zero negates his very existence. However, in the end, the two never actually fight one another, as Gary Straights, Devius' son, is the one to fight and kill him at the end of Daybreak S3.
Signa
Signa is the final enemy that Tsuruko faces in the Sun Trilogy; though they first properly interact in Daybreak S3, their destinies seem to be entwined. Signa and Tsuruko are two sides of the same coin, as not only are they both Deus Machina, they were originally one being at the beginning of the universe's creation; the Creator God (創造神, Sōzōshin) hatched out of an egg at the beginning of the universe. Becoming lonely due to a lack of other sentient life, the Creator God utilized its "Power of Zero" to create the rest of the universe. However, by doing so, the Creator God exhausted itself, almost dying in the process; shedding a single tear which contained all of its emotions and knowledge which traversed the dimensions, impacting upon Verde and enabling it to flourish into the world it is today. Using the last of its power, the Creator God split into two; the King of Darkness (闇の王, Yami no Ō) and the King of Light (光の王, Hikari no Ō); who began to fight one another. After a long and arduous battle which resulted in the spawning of the exalts and magic, the King of Light was the winner; banishing it into the core of Aether. However, the King of Light feared the possibility of the King of Darkness awakening, placing a seal over the earth's crust before it split into four "possibilities", represented by purple streaks of light that scattered throughout the multiverse; resulting in four dimensional counterparts in Verde, Aether, Edolas, and Earth Land; which, when merged, would resurrect the King of Light in a sense. Tsuruko's soul was one of these purple lights; and Signa was the King of Darkness. Tsuruko and Signa would first interact once she had absorbed her counterparts, becoming effectively the King of Light reborn.
Signa and Tsuruko first interact when on a strange, yet familiar growl reached Tsuruko's ears, seemingly calling for her. Jumping from Aether to Earth Land, Tsuruko fought her way through the hostile Hellion forces that Signa brought with it, finding Gary fighting Signa. Even with his Soul Armour's Super Mode, Gary was unable to do so much as damage the Deus Machina; while helping her friend up, Tsuruko recognized Signa as the one that called her. As the two Deus Machina squared off, Tsuruko proved to be no match for Signa, partly because the Gaiki Soul Armour and Phoenix Driver had been broken, and partly because Signa's power output far outclassed Tsuruko's own; though with Gary and Jonas' help, Tsuruko seemingly immobilized the Deus Machina, but she was unable to severally damage it due to its ability to regenerate itself. Even after Giselle joined the battle as well, Signa managed to hold its ground. At that moment, Devius showed up at the scene, halting Signa from continuing battle and announcing his plans to wipe the galaxy out by having Signa absorb all three Exalts, intending to rule the existence that he would create in its place. While Gary jumped into the teleportation portal Devius and Signa left through, Signa exchanged a meaningful glance at Tsuruko, attempting to telepathically relay its thoughts to her.
Signa and Tsuruko would encounter each other in combat several more times once Tsuruko had obtained Gaiki Kai, most notably when Signa was ordered by Devius to travel to Edolas to destroy that world. The Magic Council, which intercepted transmissions about the start of the mission, helped send Tsuruko into the area to halt Signa's rampage; seeing as Excellen was. Though she didn't make it in time to stop the take off, Tsuruko headed to the Esper parts of the world to stop Signa, who was at that time immobilized within. However, she was intercepted by Camilla Straights and her Black Soul Armour- Gaiki Dáinsleif, who managed to hold her off long enough for Signa to regain its bearings and destroy ninety-percent of Edolas, killing many innocent people and totally devastating the area. When Tsuruko regained consciousness, Excellen was in front of her, trying to help her up, before Signa descended from the skies. As it had already assimilated Chakravartin and Jonas, Signa absorbed Excellen into its body, causing it to take upon its final form, boosting its abilities to new heights, thus the perfect ruler was finally created; Signa then vanished; this inadvertently turned Signa from Tsuruko viewing it as an enemy into a bitter and deadly archenemy.
Signa, however, is never in control of its actions as it is simply a puppet for Devius, only seeking out Tsuruko so that she would free it from the Dragon Armour that constricted it and denied it its free thought. While Signa is one of Tsuruko's few enemies who have a bigger win-loss record against her, the final match decided everything; indeed, when Signa regained its own consciousness, it set about to try and destroy the universe and wipe the slate clean due to its horrid experiences, but it allowed Tsuruko to challenge it once more to see if the universe wasn't so horrible. As Tsuruko finally managed to defeat Signa, both of them were engulfed in a blinding light as Signa's finger twitched, resulting in the Creator God being reborn; or rather, Tsuruko retained her own identity while gaining the Creator God's power, effectively becoming a guardian of the universe. With this happening, Signa seemed content as its last appearance is within Tsuruko's mind, telling her that it was relieved that the universe was in good hands.
"Tsuruko Sejren. Justice." -A phrase commonly uttered when people ask who she is.
"I'll become friends with her and bring her back to you, Giselle. That way she sees that people can love even a spikey headed jerk like her." -Tsuruko's declaration to Giselle Mercury to save Hikari Zanna, Paragon of Hope
"I don't know what the heck you're saying, but back then? You used your subordinates as fodder and as a distraction? And I could see it in their eyes that if they weren't forced to be meatshields, they'd never come back. You just threw them out there! There are things that you should, and shouldn't do!" -Tsuruko, to Alexis Tenjouin, in Falling Into The Heart
"I don't need a special reason to save lives, do I?" -Tsuruko, to Hikari Zanna, explaining why she saved her in Innocent Origins
"Children are treasures. The greatest sin in this world is to damage those treasures!" -Tsuruko, to Alexis Tenjouin in Innocent Origins
"...While it'd be nice to be treated fairly, I'd at least like to know some people. Rosa is nice...that's plus one friend. Kaguya tried to kill me, that's an enemy. Back to zero..." -Tsuruko, lamenting her first day at La Pucelle, La Pucelle
"This fist! This life! Both are Gaiki!" (この こぶし も！ 命 も！ガイキ だ！, Kono kobushi mo! Inochi mo! Gaiki da!")
"I promise: I will be your final hope." -Tsuruko's words of hope to her friends upon assissting them in overcoming their burdens
"My evolution is faster than the speed of light. There's nothing in the whole universe that can keep up with my evolution!" -Tsuruko, upon obtaining Infinity Style
Gallery
Development and Conception
Brooding. Stoic. Cold as ice yet hiding a lot of insecurities underneath that stoic appearance.
Those words sum up Jason LaHote quite nicely; at least until the time-skip in the story.
However, Tsuruko is designed to be his polar opposite. I wanted to make a character so different than the protagonist of Dawn so that readers wouldn't feel as if they're reading the same story with the main character possessing a different name. It's been my goal for a while to make a main character that wouldn't be relegated to the background (as in, not rather important in the grand scheme of things) in Dawn; and I do say that I succeeded. While Tsuruko doesn't show interest in Jason, she has her own love interests and personal life which nobody in the main story affects or distorts in any way.
Tsuruko hasn't had much character development because I fear that if I change her personality even slightly, it'll ruin my view of the character who's meant to be a shining hope for the world; though on the whole her character has remained the most consistent with what I was originally trying to portray—a kind, selfless soul. So, while Tsuruko doesn't get lots of characterization, she spends time giving character development to everyone else; however, like everyone else in Daybreak, she is a highly fleshed out and engaging character.
In terms of powers, I derived Tsuruko's skillset off what would be Jason's polar opposite at first; using martial arts and her Zero Effect; while Jason is mostly focused on beams of energy, swords, and power-ups, Tsuruko's fighting style is simple, yet effective. This manifests in their fighting styles; with Jason using sharp and powerful, precise movements, while Tsuruko fights in a flashier, more fluid way and uses her agility, creativity and sheer impressiveness.
What's prominent is that Tsuruko has a sun theme; which relates highly to her personality. The sun provides warmth for all of us, but on a bad day, it will be unbearably hot and melt damn near everything. The same goes for Tsuruko; she's kind to everyone he meets, but piss her off and she'll snap!
Anyway, I hope you all like Tsuruko as much as I do.
Trivia
Tsuruko is the author's main character for the Sun Trilogy; having finally decided on a main character she would never discard.
According to the author, Tsuruko is her favourite protagonist in the Sun Trilogy; because of the general everyday setting of Daybreak, she feels more attached to Tsuruko, and considers her somewhat like a friend or a senior. In contrast, Giselle is more of someone you would admire as a hero.
Tsuruko is the second main character of the author's whose theme revolves around phoenixes.
Interestingly, Tsuruko's favourite food seems to be chili dogs.
Tsuruko's name can also derive from 釣瓶落とし; tsurubeotoshi, which is to sink quickly, referring to her habit of conforming under pressure and send conversations she is spiraling into awkwardness.
Despite being the strongest character in the entire Sun Trilogy, few know of Tsuruko's true strength, such as Excellen, Kirika, Rosa, Giselle, Jonas, Amadam, Deen, and Gary. As Tsuruko normally holds back due to being so so powerful she is worried of the mass devastation that would happen if she gave a hundred percent effort, only a few opponents have experienced her true power firsthand.
Gaiki Kai's alternate modes are mainly references to famous mecha shows, befitting her 'anthropmorphized gundam' theme. Survive Mode causes the Soul Armour to move thrice as fast, a reference to Char Aznable's Commander Zaku II from the original Mobile Suit Gundam, and its Quantization ability is similar to the Boson Jump from Martian Successor Nadesico. Meanwhile, it's Destroy Mode turns the Soul Armour red, a reference to Trans-Am from Mobile Suit Gundam 00, and its ultimate attack, Ardor Blade, functions similarly to the Raiser Sword, also from 00, and the Blazing Sword of Voltron fame. The aura Destroy Mode has functions as a deflector shield, similar to Protect Shade from the GaoGaiGar series. Lastly, Gaiki Kai's Hyper Mode turns the armour gold, similar to Shining Gundam's Super Mode from Mobile Fighter G Gundam. The Creation Burst is a double reference to the Lemuria Impact of Kishin Houkou Demonbane and the Ideon Gun from Space Runaway Ideon.
While Tsuruko does have her own personality, desires, likes, and dislikes, she slowly develops an amalgam of traits from every other character she forges a significant bond with, either positive or negative, incorporating each of their traits into herself and bringing them together as a result from the A-Trans ability of the Deus Machina. However, these cases are fairly subtle; as it's never stated in-story that Tsuruko can copy personality quirks, and even then, these traits are fairly downplayed.
