Sword God Style

""A 『Sword God』 isn't something that you can become simply by memorizing a skill or something, you know? Even though someone special like me didn't get special treatment, why is there a need to treat Sword Saints that way?""

- Sword God Gal Farion

Sword God Style (剣神流 Kenshin-ryū) is one of the three major schools of swordsmanship, and considered to be the strongest.

Characteristics
For those of the Sword God Style, their motto is [Victory goes to he who moves first]. It is a style of swordsmanship that emphasizes speed and aggression, where the main focus is to strike down the opponent first. As a result, many of the practitioners develop to be short-tempered and belligerent. In order to be able to react swiftly, there is discouragement for practitioners to wear heavy armor and instead opt for light clothing for maximum mobility.

Given the philosophy of defeating the enemy with a single blow, this style usually renders its users inept at defense and leaving with no counter-attacks. Due to this, Sword God Style practitioners find it difficult to fight a Water God Style practitioner as they are, conversely, adept at defense and countering. Contrarily, this style can overwhelm the North God Style as they mostly rely on the environment to fight.

Succession
""You've gained the title Sword King, but I already have nothing to teach you. I'll give you the proof of mastery. Though it'd also be fine to jump you straight up to Sword Emperor but... you'd have to fight Ghislaine here. If you want to jump up to Sword God then you'll have to kill me.""

- Gal Farion to Eris

When a swordsman of the Sword God school defeats a Sword God, he can assume the title of Sword God - the strongest and the head of the school. If the Sword God dies for any other reason, the next strongest of the Sword God school will assume the title of Sword God. Therefore, a generational change of Sword God means a civil war in the Sword God school.

Longsword of Light

 * Longsword of Light (光の太刀 Hikari no Tachi): The ultimate technique of the Sword God Style. In this technique, the sword is held steady with both hands, and all the force of the sword is put into a single swing. This technique is extremely difficult to evade or defend against due to the speed of the slash, which can reach the speed of light when fully mastered, and the power to cut a heavy-armoured enemy in half. The existence of this technique is the reason why Sword God Style is called the strongest of the three schools.
 * Used by Eris Greyrat, Gal Farion, Nina Farion, Jino Britts , Ghislaine Dedoldia , Orsted 

Light Reversal

 * Light Reversal (光返し Hikari-gaeshi): The only known technical countermeasure against the Longsword of Light. In this technique, it is a requirement for the user to have exceeding reaction speed; before the enemy's Longsword of Light reaches its maximum velocity, it is countered by the user's own Longsword of Light by cutting off the wrist of the enemy.
 * Used by Eris Greyrat 

Longsword of Silence

 * Longsword of Silence (無音の太刀 Muon no Tachi): An advanced technique of the Sword God Style. This technique is a slower variant of the Longsword of Light where the blade is swung at a velocity beyond the speed of sound. A characteristic of this technique is that leaves no sound behind.
 * Used by Paul Greyrat ,Eris Greyrat 

Arm Chop

 * Arm Chop, fully known as Sword God Style - Initial Strike, Arm Chop is one of the basic techniques of the Sword God Style. The user aims at their opponent's forearm to slice it off or if they are wearing armor will break the bones of their arm which in both cases loses their ability to use their weapon on that arm.

Ranks
There are seven ranks in the Sword God Style.


 * 1) Sword God
 * 2) Sword Emperor
 * 3) Sword King
 * 4) Sword Saint
 * 5) Sword God Style Advanced
 * 6) Sword God Style Intermediate
 * 7) Sword God Style Beginner


 * Those of Saintly level and above may call themselves a Saint, King, Emperor or God of the Sword God school.
 * While the typical way to be Sword Saint is to be able to use the Longsword of Light, Eris attained this by defeating Jino and Nina despite being unable to use Longsword of Light but still granted the rank by Gal.
 * When a Sword God Style practitioner reaches Saint Rank, they are given a dark leather jacket that has a white fur trim collar and a pair of white belts on each end of the sleeve similar to what Gal, Ghislaine and later Eris are wearing.
 * Practitioners with rank Kingly level are granted special titles by the Sword God and is given a Sword from his collection as proof of mastery.
 * Similar to the system of Water God Style, there can be only one swordsman of the God rank while the there can be multiple practitioners who can assume the rank of Sword Emperor and below.

Known Practitioners

 * Sword Gods: Gal Farion, Jino Britts


 * Sword Emperors: Timothy Britts, Nina Farion


 * Sword Kings: "Black Wolf" Ghislaine, "Mad Dog" Eris, Nina Farion (Former)


 * Advanced: Paul Greyrat, Soldat Heckler, Bigott Mercenal


 * Intermediate: Rudeus Greyrat, Norn Greyrat, Luke Notos Greyrat


 * Unknown Rank: Orsted (King or above, possibly God), Defense of the Holy Sepulcher Knights including Therese Latreia (at least Advanced Rank)

Trivia

 * The first generation Sword God was someone who simply swung his sword faster than anyone else to kill them. He had no need for things like techniques or differing sword swings.
 * Orsted is the only known person that could unleash the Longsword of Light technique with his bare hands.
 * Judging from Gal Farion's sword collection, Ghislaine is the only Sword King before Eris, Nina and Jino ascended to the position.
 * The headquarters of the Sword God school is located in the Holy Land of the Sword on the far north-west corner of the Central Continent.
 * The Holy Land of the Sword was initially owned by Sword God but was claimed by Water God. The current Sword God reclaimed it back from the previous Water God.
 * Sword God Style is similar to Jigen-ryū which originates from Satsuma Prefecture, 16th Century Japan where their teachings state that a second strike is not even to be considered.