Mercury

Mercury's sword is one I haven't seen before, though I wouldn't say I'm incredibly well versed with weapons. So, I've asked around from others in order to ascertain the weapon's strengths. [Redacted] proved incredibly useful for providing information about the sword, which is suspicious in its own right considering it's a weapon from Xander. She called it a "spadone," though after some careful research the naming itself is not entirely as important, considering spadone is a broad term for any longsword. I, personally, prefer to call it a longersword.

• The sword is able to dissolve someone's power (or their connection to it). I've mentioned it earlier, but I didn't explicitly say that it severs the link between a remote power and its user (for instance, Ryzael cannot use his power until re-linked if him or the possessed object is hit by the weapon). Even an ability which has incredible piercing power such as [redacted]'s is disassembled, which one would think would ignore the sword's disassemble property due to it normally piercing Mercury's ruelid armor (Though to be fair, the weapon is not naturally part of her arsenal in the same manner a summonable weapon is). It should be noted that something like Rei's "draconic" form cannot be de-activated, as the power does not leave her body and instead manifests inside her. The fire can be cancelled, but the enhancement of her body cannot.

• The "sweet spot" of the weapon is at the very tip, which means it has less bounce and wobble after clashing with an object if the tip of the blade is what makes contact. This, apparently, is incredibly beneficial in fights where Mercury is able to keep their distance. It makes it easier to stab after the blade is blocked, and repositioning of the blade and her body is made easier as well. While this does make the base of the blade generally less effective, the weapon's effective range is made that much stronger through this aspect.

• The blade is a whopping five feet long, which gives the blade incredible reach. With it being quite a bit lighter than a greatsword, it reaps the benefits of both a longsword and a bigger broadsword / greatsword. While it does lack the blunt damage valued in larger weapons, its ease of handling is comparable to a sword of much smaller stature due to its fairly unique making, and while it's by no means light in comparison to a regular sword, the lack of relative heft makes it a fantastic skirmishing weapon that excels in fights with lots of area. Also, because of the sword's absurd length, it is often trivial for Mercury to cancel another's power, as the blade's massive profile makes it fairly easy.

• The large hilt and light weapon profile give it a unique ability to be one-handed in a spear like fashion, where the hilt can be rested up against the wrist and arm for balance and then thrusted forward (which its thrusting capabilities as stated earlier are quite good). Mercury is especially capable of wielding her sword like that, and she'll often use her free other hand as a shield or bludgeoning tool.

• One of the blade's biggest weaknesses comes from the fact that it almost always has to be swung above Mercury and then aimed downwards, as otherwise it would swipe the ground. This doesn't apply when she lots of horizontal space to work with, but in tighter areas, she cannot use flowy movement which is almost entirely responsible for the sword's strength. It's ability to stab still makes it a threat, and her defensive options are still almost impossible to overcome, but it still serves as the sword's greatest weakness.

Overall, the weapon is unique in both its ability-cancelling properties and its rather un-orthodox making. While it does take sometime to get used to, anyone with training in a longsword should get a hold of the weapon naturally (though its length does mean that the wielder must raise the weapon higher than usual). It's also, in my opinion, the strongest weapon within Augustia. Its length is a massive advantage combined with its ability to cancel abilities upon making contact. It's only a little shorter than Rei's spear, but it still has the benefits of the cutting edge extending to the whole weapon rather than a portion of the build. The only problem I see is that, without Mercury's ruelid armor, it can be a tough weapon to use defensively when the opponent has fast speed and / or long range options. The weapon excels at maintaining distance while being swung around the user, but a long range device will outclass the weapon's range, obviously. And, because of the sword's nature, it can be rather tough to be mobile with the it. A speedy user can still make a move before the sword is swung back at them, which is a disadvantage of any hefty weapon. Finally, shield's are a natural enemy to a weapon like this, as it is very easy to make a move if the "spadone" is blocked when swung and not stabbed. Proper training against shields, especially when specialized with said weapon, can help minimize a shield's effectiveness (especially in the spadone's case where its stabbing potential is high), but it will still be a bad matchup nonetheless.

In the end, I wouldn't even dare raise a shield to the weapon anyways. Mercury's incredible footwork with the weapon makes it rather difficult to block fully without letting her continue her hefty swings through momentum shifting, and an unsuccessful block with a shield can often be the difference between life or death. I would still have one than not, but the safer option is to just avoid her entirely.

--- Kai, head of Augustia