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* UnblockableAttack: The eponymous "Spellblades" are a set of (initially) six offensive techniques [[MagicKnight merging magic and sword arts]], described in an {{epigraph}} to volume 1 as "A strike that can be neither dodged nor blocked, thereby guaranteeing death. Fulfill these conditions within the one-step, one-spell distance, and you have what is called a 'spellblade.'" So far, three have been identified in the series.
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* UnblockableAttack: TwistingTheProphecy: 300 years ago, a mage theorized that [[MultipleChoiceFuture one cannot observe the future with precision because the act of prophecy itself changes the future]]. This became the underlying principle of the Fourth [[UnblockableAttack Spellblade]], "Angustavia -- the thread that crosses the abyss", which selects a desired possible near-term future and forces it to come to pass. [[spoiler:Main character Oliver Horn uses to defeat Darius Grenville in a SingleStrokeBattle at the end of volume 1.]]
-->''"One cannot observe the future with precision, because ''the act of observation itself'' changes the future. What we call 'prophecy' is merely the act of guiding events towards one potential outcome. When our guidance happens to lead to the desired result, we call the results 'a prophecy come to pass'."''
--->-- '''an unnamed historical archmage'''
* UnblockableAttack:
** The eponymous "Spellblades" are a set of (initially) six offensive techniques [[MagicKnight merging magic and sword arts]], described in an {{epigraph}} to volume 1 as "A strike that can be neither dodged nor blocked, thereby guaranteeing death. Fulfill these conditions within the one-step, one-spell distance, and you have what is called a 'spellblade.'" So far, three have been identified in the series.
-->''"One cannot observe the future with precision, because ''the act of observation itself'' changes the future. What we call 'prophecy' is merely the act of guiding events towards one potential outcome. When our guidance happens to lead to the desired result, we call the results 'a prophecy come to pass'."''
--->-- '''an unnamed historical archmage'''
* UnblockableAttack:
** The eponymous "Spellblades" are a set of (initially) six offensive techniques [[MagicKnight merging magic and sword arts]], described in an {{epigraph}} to volume 1 as "A strike that can be neither dodged nor blocked, thereby guaranteeing death. Fulfill these conditions within the one-step, one-spell distance, and you have what is called a 'spellblade.'" So far, three have been identified in the series.
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* SeductionAsOneUpmanship:
** Tullio Rossi, who [[UnknownRival sees himself as a class rival]] to main character Oliver Horn, makes several passes at Oliver's LoveInterest Nanao Hibiki. He has absolutely no success at this because [[SingleTargetSexuality Nanao only has eyes for Oliver]].
** In volume 6, during a confrontation between the two parties in the election for StudentCouncilPresident, Khiirgi Albschuch from Echevalria's group brags about repeatedly cucking Godfrey's supporter Lesedi Ingwe to piss her off.
** Tullio Rossi, who [[UnknownRival sees himself as a class rival]] to main character Oliver Horn, makes several passes at Oliver's LoveInterest Nanao Hibiki. He has absolutely no success at this because [[SingleTargetSexuality Nanao only has eyes for Oliver]].
** In volume 6, during a confrontation between the two parties in the election for StudentCouncilPresident, Khiirgi Albschuch from Echevalria's group brags about repeatedly cucking Godfrey's supporter Lesedi Ingwe to piss her off.
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* OpenMouthInsertFoot: Oliver has a bit of a problem with this, especially early in the series.
** During the first sword arts lesson, Richard Andrews volunteers to cross swords with Nanao, but Oliver jumps in instead, saying that he met her first and they even fought the troll together. Richard gets ''very'' angry at this, and Oliver realizes Richard was [[ScrewThisImOutOfHere one of the students who ran for it while he and the other Sword Roses were holding the troll off]], and that he's made an enemy of Richard by accidentally calling attention to it.
** Oliver tries to reassure Katie after she's bitten by the magical silkworm, and makes an allusion to an angel coming down to Earth. Katie turns bright red, and Oliver realizes he laid it on ''way'' too thick.
** During the first sword arts lesson, Richard Andrews volunteers to cross swords with Nanao, but Oliver jumps in instead, saying that he met her first and they even fought the troll together. Richard gets ''very'' angry at this, and Oliver realizes Richard was [[ScrewThisImOutOfHere one of the students who ran for it while he and the other Sword Roses were holding the troll off]], and that he's made an enemy of Richard by accidentally calling attention to it.
** Oliver tries to reassure Katie after she's bitten by the magical silkworm, and makes an allusion to an angel coming down to Earth. Katie turns bright red, and Oliver realizes he laid it on ''way'' too thick.
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* SuperToughness: Mages as a rule are hard to kill: they can usually survive anything that doesn't kill them right away, though a full recovery requires medical intervention. This is used by the author to inflict grievous wounds on them without issue: Oliver is disemboweled by the garuda in volume 1 but retreats and is able to sort himself out with a healing spell while Nanao holds it off.
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never mind, it got disambiguated
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* OurElvesAreBetter: Elves are about the only species of demihumans [[FantasticRacism treated as equals by mages]], and sometimes interbreed with them: [[spoiler:Chela]] is [[HalfHumanHybrid half-and-half]] and [[SuperMode can take on a fully elven form to increase her spellcasting ability for short periods]]. Khiirgi "Avarice" Albschuch, a sixth-year aligned to the conservative faction, is the only full-blooded elf character introduced so far.
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* OurElvesAreBetter: OurElvesAreDifferent: Elves are about the only species of demihumans [[FantasticRacism treated as equals by mages]], and sometimes interbreed with them: [[spoiler:Chela]] is [[HalfHumanHybrid half-and-half]] and [[SuperMode can take on a fully elven form to increase her spellcasting ability for short periods]]. Khiirgi "Avarice" Albschuch, a sixth-year aligned to the conservative faction, is the only full-blooded elf character introduced so far.
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edit past redirect
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* OurElvesAreDifferent: Elves are about the only species of demihumans [[FantasticRacism treated as equals by mages]], and sometimes interbreed with them: [[spoiler:Chela]] is [[HalfHumanHybrid half-and-half]] and [[SuperMode can take on a fully elven form to increase her spellcasting ability for short periods]]. Khiirgi "Avarice" Albschuch, a sixth-year aligned to the conservative faction, is the only full-blooded elf character introduced so far.
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* OurElvesAreDifferent: OurElvesAreBetter: Elves are about the only species of demihumans [[FantasticRacism treated as equals by mages]], and sometimes interbreed with them: [[spoiler:Chela]] is [[HalfHumanHybrid half-and-half]] and [[SuperMode can take on a fully elven form to increase her spellcasting ability for short periods]]. Khiirgi "Avarice" Albschuch, a sixth-year aligned to the conservative faction, is the only full-blooded elf character introduced so far.
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* TheMultiverse: In volume 5, Professor Demitrio Aristedes explains the {{Constructed World}}'s cosmology by introducing the concept of a "tír": a world distinct from our own that [[AlienGeometries obeys different physical laws]], with different environments and ecosystems, many of them controlled by a GodEmperor of sorts. The earth the protagonists live on is an "atheosphere" because GodIsDead, and what mages call magic was originally the authority invested in a god until an alliance of humans and demihumans killed it. Every star in the sky is said to be "a glimpse of a tír", and the brighter the star, the easier it is to reach. Eight tír in particular come into conflict with our world on a cyclical basis, allowing alien creatures to migrate to it and "apostles" of the tír gods to come and try to establish cults among humans and demihumans, called Gnostics.
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* TheMultiverse: In volume 5, Professor Demitrio Aristedes explains the {{Constructed World}}'s cosmology by introducing the concept of a "tír": a world distinct from our own that [[AlienGeometries obeys different physical laws]], with different environments and ecosystems, many of them controlled by a GodEmperor of sorts. The earth the protagonists live on is an "atheosphere" because GodIsDead, and what mages call magic was originally the authority invested in a god until an alliance of humans and demihumans killed it. Every star in the sky is said to be "a glimpse of a tír", and the brighter the star, the easier it is to reach. Eight tír in particular come into conflict with our world on a cyclical basis, allowing alien creatures to migrate to it and "apostles" of the tír gods to come and try to establish cults among humans and demihumans, called Gnostics. TheMagocracy, in turn, created the [[MilitaryMage Gnostic Hunters]] to defend against such incursions.
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* OurElvesAreDifferent: Elves are about the only species of demihumans [[FantasticRacism treated as equals by mages]], and sometimes interbreed with them: [[spoiler:Chela]] is [[HalfHumanHybrid half-and-half]] and [[SuperMode can take on a fully elven form to increase her spellcasting ability for short periods]]. Khiirgi "Avarice" Albschuch, a sixth-year aligned to the conservative faction, is the only full-blooded elf character introduced so far.
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An anime adaptation from Creator/JCStaff, directed by Creator/MasatoMatsune, was [[https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2021/12/11/reign-of-the-seven-spellblades-tv-anime-adaptation-announced announced]] during the 2021 Dengeku Bunko Winter Festival. [[https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2023-03-09/reign-of-the-seven-spellblades-anime-reveals-1st-promo-video-main-cast-staff-july-premiere/.195756 It is scheduled to premiere in July 2023.]]
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An anime adaptation from Creator/JCStaff, Creator/JCStaff and Creator/WarnerBros Japan, directed by Creator/MasatoMatsune, was [[https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2021/12/11/reign-of-the-seven-spellblades-tv-anime-adaptation-announced announced]] during the 2021 Dengeku Bunko Winter Festival. [[https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2023-03-09/reign-of-the-seven-spellblades-anime-reveals-1st-promo-video-main-cast-staff-july-premiere/.195756 It is scheduled to premiere in July 2023.]]
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Dewicking page to be merged into Love Triangle due to TRS decision
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* LoveTriangle: Oliver Horn quickly attracts crushes from both Katie and Nanao.
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* LoveTriangle: LoveTriangle:
** OliverHorn quickly attracts crushes and Nanao are strongly attracted to each other from both book one on. Katie also has a crush on Oliver starting in book one, and Nanao.Pete starts to act like a {{tsundere}} towards him in volume five. Oliver doesn't return their feelings that way.
** Nanao also has her own suitors, notably Tullio Rossi. It's entirely one-sided: Nanao is 100% [[SingleTargetSexuality Oliver-sexual]].
** Oliver
** Nanao also has her own suitors, notably Tullio Rossi. It's entirely one-sided: Nanao is 100% [[SingleTargetSexuality Oliver-sexual]].
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* TriangRelations: A multiway TriangRelationships/TypeFour example centered on the relationship between Oliver and Nanao.
** Oliver and Nanao are strongly attracted to each other from book one on. Katie also has a crush on Oliver starting in book one, and Pete starts to act like a {{tsundere}} towards him in volume five. Oliver doesn't return their feelings that way.
** Meanwhile, Nanao also has her own suitors, notably Tullio Rossi. It's entirely one-sided: Nanao is 100% [[SingleTargetSexuality Oliver-sexual]].
** Oliver and Nanao are strongly attracted to each other from book one on. Katie also has a crush on Oliver starting in book one, and Pete starts to act like a {{tsundere}} towards him in volume five. Oliver doesn't return their feelings that way.
** Meanwhile, Nanao also has her own suitors, notably Tullio Rossi. It's entirely one-sided: Nanao is 100% [[SingleTargetSexuality Oliver-sexual]].
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* TalentVsTraining: Oliver is contrasted with several characters in this way, particularly Nanao and to a lesser extent Tullio Rossi. Oliver is extremely good at learning and adapting magic and sword techniques from others: in volume 2 he shocks Rossi in a sword duel by defeating the Ytallian's self-taught fighting style with pure, orthodox Lanoff Style swordsmanship, [[spoiler:and is even capable of [[UnblockableAttack the Fourth Spellblade]] by making use of his mother's GhostMemory]]. However, he has no techniques or skills that are truly his own nor any unique magical traits like several of his friends have: Nanao in particular is a mage of phenomenal natural talent whose foreign life experiences and worldview as a {{samurai}} of far-off Yamatsukini allow her to use magic in ways nobody has ever even heard of before.
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Yay! Update! Note it's still not
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''Reign of the Seven Spellblades'' (''七つの魔剣が支配する Nanatsu no Maken ga Shihai Suru'') is a DarkFantasy light novel series written by Creator/BokutoUno (author of ''Literature/AlderaminOnTheSky'') with illustrations by Creator/RuriaMiyuki, published under Kadokawa's Creator/DengekiBunko imprint beginning in September 2018. It has a manga adaptation by Creator/SakaeEsuno (creator of ''Manga/FutureDiary''), which began its run in 2019. Both were licensed by Creator/YenPress for English publication beginning in 2021. An anime adaptation was [[https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2021/12/11/reign-of-the-seven-spellblades-tv-anime-adaptation-announced announced]] during the 2021 Dengeku Bunko Winter Festival.
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''Reign of the Seven Spellblades'' (''七つの魔剣が支配する Nanatsu no Maken ga Shihai Suru'') is a DarkFantasy light novel series written by Creator/BokutoUno (author of ''Literature/AlderaminOnTheSky'') with illustrations by Creator/RuriaMiyuki, published under Kadokawa's Creator/DengekiBunko imprint beginning in September 2018. It has a manga adaptation by Creator/SakaeEsuno (creator of ''Manga/FutureDiary''), which began its run in 2019. 2019 in ''Monthly Shōnen Ace''. Both were licensed by Creator/YenPress for English publication beginning in 2021. 2021.
An anime adaptation from Creator/JCStaff, directed by Creator/MasatoMatsune, was [[https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2021/12/11/reign-of-the-seven-spellblades-tv-anime-adaptation-announced announced]] during the 2021 Dengeku Bunko Winter Festival. [[https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2023-03-09/reign-of-the-seven-spellblades-anime-reveals-1st-promo-video-main-cast-staff-july-premiere/.195756 It is scheduled to premiere in July 2023.]]
An anime adaptation from Creator/JCStaff, directed by Creator/MasatoMatsune, was [[https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2021/12/11/reign-of-the-seven-spellblades-tv-anime-adaptation-announced announced]] during the 2021 Dengeku Bunko Winter Festival. [[https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2023-03-09/reign-of-the-seven-spellblades-anime-reveals-1st-promo-video-main-cast-staff-july-premiere/.195756 It is scheduled to premiere in July 2023.]]
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As spring dawns in [[AlternativeCalendar year 1532 of the Great Calendar]], six fifteen-year-olds from all walks of life arrive at [[AcademyOfAdventure Kimberly Magic Academy]] to begin their seven-year-long [[WizardingSchool formal education in the arts of magic]]. An altercation with a [[AllTrollsAreDifferent troll]] at the entrance ceremony [[FireForgedFriends forges bonds]] that will serve them well--for life at Kimberly is anything but safe. And for series protagonist Oliver Horn, talented mainly at [[VariantPowerCopying adapting and modifying others' techniques]], those bonds--especially with Nanao Hibiya, a {{samurai}} of the far east for whom magic is [[AutopilotArtistry more instinct than thought]]--are as much complication as boon, for he came to Kimberly carrying secrets darker than the labyrinth that lies below it.
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As spring dawns in [[AlternativeCalendar year 1532 of the Great Calendar]], six fifteen-year-olds fifteen-year-old mages from all walks of life arrive at [[AcademyOfAdventure Kimberly Magic Academy]] to begin their seven-year-long [[WizardingSchool formal education in the arts of magic]]. An altercation with a [[AllTrollsAreDifferent troll]] at the entrance ceremony [[FireForgedFriends forges bonds]] between [[TheTeam six of them]] that will serve them well--for well, for life at Kimberly is anything but safe. safe.
And for series protagonist Oliver Horn, talented mainly at [[VariantPowerCopying adapting and modifying others' techniques]], those bonds--especially with Nanao Hibiya, a {{samurai}} of the far east for whom magic is [[AutopilotArtistry more instinct than thought]]--are as much complication as boon, for he came to Kimberly carrying secrets darker than the labyrinth that lies below it.
And for series protagonist Oliver Horn, talented mainly at [[VariantPowerCopying adapting and modifying others' techniques]], those bonds--especially with Nanao Hibiya, a {{samurai}} of the far east for whom magic is [[AutopilotArtistry more instinct than thought]]--are as much complication as boon, for he came to Kimberly carrying secrets darker than the labyrinth that lies below it.
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As spring dawns in [[AlternativeCalendar year 1532 of the Great Calendar]], six fifteen-year-olds from all walks of life arrive at [[AcademyOfAdventure Kimberly Magic Academy]] to begin their seven-year-long [[WizardingSchool formal education in the arts of magic]]. An altercation with a [[AllTrollsAreDifferent troll]] at the entrance ceremony [[FireForgedFriends forges bonds]] that will serve them well--for life at Kimberly is anything but safe. And for series protagonist Oliver Horn, talented mainly at [[PowerCopying adapting and modifying others' techniques, those bonds--especially with Nanao Hibiya, a {{samurai}} of the far east for whom magic is [[AutopilotArtistry more instinct than thought]]--are as much complication as boon, for he came to Kimberly carrying secrets darker than the labyrinth that lies below it.
to:
As spring dawns in [[AlternativeCalendar year 1532 of the Great Calendar]], six fifteen-year-olds from all walks of life arrive at [[AcademyOfAdventure Kimberly Magic Academy]] to begin their seven-year-long [[WizardingSchool formal education in the arts of magic]]. An altercation with a [[AllTrollsAreDifferent troll]] at the entrance ceremony [[FireForgedFriends forges bonds]] that will serve them well--for life at Kimberly is anything but safe. And for series protagonist Oliver Horn, talented mainly at [[PowerCopying [[VariantPowerCopying adapting and modifying others' techniques, techniques]], those bonds--especially with Nanao Hibiya, a {{samurai}} of the far east for whom magic is [[AutopilotArtistry more instinct than thought]]--are as much complication as boon, for he came to Kimberly carrying secrets darker than the labyrinth that lies below it.
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rewrote the page description since it turned out to have been plagiarized from the official blurb
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Springtime at Kimberly Magic Academy brings a new batch of first-year students, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as they begin their journey to become full-fledged mages. Among these newcomers are Oliver Horn, a studious boy equally skilled with the wand and the blade, and Nanao Hibiya, a strong-willed samurai girl from the distant nation of Yamatsu. The wheels of fate bring these two souls together at Kimberly, where they become both comrades and rivals in equal measure. However, lurking within the academy's halls are countless dangers and dark secrets guaranteed to threaten not only their friendship--but their very lives...
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''Reign of the Seven Spellblades'' (''七つの魔剣が支配する Nanatsu no Maken ga Shihai Suru'') is a DarkFantasy light novel series written by Creator/BokutoUno (author of ''Literature/AlderaminOnTheSky'') with illustrations by Creator/RuriaMiyuki, published under Kadokawa's Creator/DengekiBunko imprint beginning in September 2018. It has a manga adaptation by Creator/SakaeEsuno (creator of ''Manga/FutureDiary''), which began its run in 2019. Both were licensed by Creator/YenPress for English publication beginning in 2021. It has an upcoming anime adaptation.
to:
''Reign of the Seven Spellblades'' (''七つの魔剣が支配する Nanatsu no Maken ga Shihai Suru'') is a DarkFantasy light novel series written by Creator/BokutoUno (author of ''Literature/AlderaminOnTheSky'') with illustrations by Creator/RuriaMiyuki, published under Kadokawa's Creator/DengekiBunko imprint beginning in September 2018. It has a manga adaptation by Creator/SakaeEsuno (creator of ''Manga/FutureDiary''), which began its run in 2019. Both were licensed by Creator/YenPress for English publication beginning in 2021. It has an upcoming An anime adaptation.adaptation was [[https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2021/12/11/reign-of-the-seven-spellblades-tv-anime-adaptation-announced announced]] during the 2021 Dengeku Bunko Winter Festival.
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* KickThemWhileTheyAreDown: {{Defied}} by Pete at the start of volume 7. He intervenes in a fight between four newly admitted first-year students, initially to instruct them on Kimberly Magic Academy rules on dueling--mainly, have an upperclassman present to referee and heal everyone up after. When the winner tells him "I don't remember giving you permission to ''heal'' anyone" and that he plans to use the losers to practice his [[AgonyBeam pain spells]], Pete administers a CurbStompBattle to teach him that the dueling rules are ''not'' optional.
-->'''Pete:''' Count yourself lucky it was ''me'' you fought. Some students here would have done far worse than a mere pain spell.
-->'''Pete:''' Count yourself lucky it was ''me'' you fought. Some students here would have done far worse than a mere pain spell.
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* WalkingOssuary: Implied in volume 1, when Oliver, Pete, Chela, and Nanao get caught in a battle between two upperclassmen, the chimera breeder Ophelia Salvadori and the skeletal golem-maker Cyrus Rivermoore. As their creations duke it out, Ophelia remarks to Cyrus that the spinal column on his bone creature is new and mentions him pillaging monster corpses deeper in the labyrinth, implying that it's a composite skeleton. Later on, Cyrus' new project involves stealing one bone at a time from other students' living bodies, apparently planning to create a composite human skeleton.
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better trope
Deleted line(s) 12 (click to see context) :
* AlienGeometries: In volume 5, Professor Demitrio Aristedes explains the {{Constructed World}}s cosmology by introducing the concept of a "tír": a world distinct from our own that obeys different physical laws, with different environments and ecosystems, many of them controlled by a GodEmperor of sorts. The earth the protagonists live on is an "atheosphere" because GodIsDead, and what mages call magic was originally the authority invested in a god until an alliance of humans and demihumans killed it. "Every star in the sky is a glimpse of a tír", and the brighter the star, the easier it is to reach.
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* TheMultiverse: In volume 5, Professor Demitrio Aristedes explains the {{Constructed World}}'s cosmology by introducing the concept of a "tír": a world distinct from our own that [[AlienGeometries obeys different physical laws]], with different environments and ecosystems, many of them controlled by a GodEmperor of sorts. The earth the protagonists live on is an "atheosphere" because GodIsDead, and what mages call magic was originally the authority invested in a god until an alliance of humans and demihumans killed it. Every star in the sky is said to be "a glimpse of a tír", and the brighter the star, the easier it is to reach. Eight tír in particular come into conflict with our world on a cyclical basis, allowing alien creatures to migrate to it and "apostles" of the tír gods to come and try to establish cults among humans and demihumans, called Gnostics.
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* AlienGeometries: In volume 5, Professor Demitrio Aristedes explains the {{Constructed World}}s cosmology by introducing the concept of a "tír": a world distinct from our own that obeys different physical laws, with different environments and ecosystems, many of them controlled by a GodEmperor of sorts. The earth the protagonists live on is an "atheosphere" because GodIsDead, and what mages call magic was originally the authority invested in a god until an alliance of humans and demihumans killed it. "Every star in the sky is a glimpse of a tír", and the brighter the star, the easier it is to reach.
* DungeonBypass: When it's the upperclassmens' turn at the combat league prelims in volume 7, Alvin Godfrey starts the race to the third level of the labyrinth by simply burning a hole clean through three floors of the first level, skipping it altogether. He only does this because [[MySignificanceSenseIsTingling his significance sense]] was giving him a bad feeling about the setup, and doesn't mind that it gives his competitor Leoncio Echevalria a leg up since it means [[EnemyMine two of the top seventh-year fighters will be available for whatever is ahead]].
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* DungeonBypass: When it's the upperclassmens' turn at the combat league prelims in volume 7, Alvin Godfrey starts the race to the third level of the labyrinth by simply burning a hole clean through three floors of the first level, skipping it altogether. He only does this because [[MySignificanceSenseIsTingling his significance sense]] was giving him a bad feeling about the setup, and doesn't mind that it gives his competitor Leoncio Echevalria a leg up since it means [[EnemyMine two of the top seventh-year fighters will be available for whatever is ahead]].
* EnemyMine: [[spoiler:Vanessa Aldiss is stationed at the entrance to the third layer as the final obstacle for the upperclassmen. This prompts the entire cadre of sixth- and seventh-year entrants to team up just to ''survive'', including political archrivals Alvin Godfrey and Leoncio Echevalria--who end up scoring actual, if minor, wounds against her and winning.]]
* EnemyMine: [[spoiler:Vanessa Aldiss is stationed at the entrance to the third layer as the final obstacle for the upperclassmen. This prompts the entire cadre of sixth- and seventh-year entrants to team up just to ''survive'', including political archrivals Alvin Godfrey and Leoncio Echevalria--who end up scoring actual, if minor, wounds against her and winning.]]
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* DungeonBypass: When it's EnemyMine:
** Demitrio Aristides characterizes theupperclassmens' turn at ancient alliance of humans and demihumans that slew the combat league prelims in volume 7, Alvin Godfrey starts the race to the third level god of the labyrinth by simply burning a hole clean through three floors of the first level, skipping it altogether. He only does this because [[MySignificanceSenseIsTingling his significance sense]] was giving him world as little more than a bad feeling about the setup, and doesn't mind team-up against a common enemy, though he allows that it gives his competitor Leoncio Echevalria a leg up since it means [[EnemyMine two of the top seventh-year fighters will be available for whatever is ahead]].
* EnemyMine:now-extinct progenitor demihumans likely played an outsize role in getting the different factions to work together.
** [[spoiler:Vanessa Aldiss is stationed at the entrance to the third layer as the final obstacle for the upperclassmen. This prompts the entire cadre of sixth- and seventh-year entrants to team up just to ''survive'', including political archrivals Alvin Godfrey and Leoncio Echevalria--who end up scoring actual, if minor, wounds against her and winning.]]
** Demitrio Aristides characterizes the
* EnemyMine:
** [[spoiler:Vanessa Aldiss is stationed at the entrance to the third layer as the final obstacle for the upperclassmen. This prompts the entire cadre of sixth- and seventh-year entrants to team up just to ''survive'', including political archrivals Alvin Godfrey and Leoncio Echevalria--who end up scoring actual, if minor, wounds against her and winning.]]
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* DungeonBypass: When it's the upperclassmens' turn at the combat league prelims in volume 7, Alvin Godfrey starts the race to the third level of the labyrinth by simply burning a hole clean through three floors of the first level, skipping it altogether. He only does this because [[MySignificanceSenseIsTingling his significance sense]] was giving him a bad feeling about the setup, and doesn't mind that it gives his competitor Leoncio Echevalria a leg up since it means [[EnemyMine two of the top seventh-year fighters will be available for whatever is ahead]].
* EnemyMine: [[spoiler:Vanessa Aldiss is stationed at the entrance to the third layer as the final obstacle for the upperclassmen. This prompts the entire cadre of sixth- and seventh-year entrants to team up just to ''survive'', including political archrivals Alvin Godfrey and Leoncio Echevalria--who end up scoring actual, if minor, wounds against her and winning.]]
* EnemyMine: [[spoiler:Vanessa Aldiss is stationed at the entrance to the third layer as the final obstacle for the upperclassmen. This prompts the entire cadre of sixth- and seventh-year entrants to team up just to ''survive'', including political archrivals Alvin Godfrey and Leoncio Echevalria--who end up scoring actual, if minor, wounds against her and winning.]]
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* TournamentArc: The main plot of Volume 2 revolves around a sword arts tournament among the first-years, organized by Tullio Rossi, an Ytallian student with a ([[UnknownRival mostly imagined]]) rivalry with Oliver. Each participant is given a medallion and duels others to take theirs, with the students with the most medallions at the end of the week advancing to the playoff round. [[spoiler:The tournament is {{aborted|Arc}} before the playoffs when [[SpannerInTheWorks Ophelia Salvadori is consumed by the spell in an unrelated incident and kidnaps several of the participants]].]]
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* TournamentArc: TournamentArc:
** The main plot of Volume 2 revolves around a sword arts tournament among the first-years, organized by Tullio Rossi, an Ytallian student with a ([[UnknownRival mostly imagined]]) rivalry with Oliver. Each participant is given a medallion and duels others to take theirs, with the students with the most medallions at the end of the week advancing to the playoff round. [[spoiler:The tournament is {{aborted|Arc}} before the playoffs when [[SpannerInTheWorks Ophelia Salvadori is consumed by the spell in an unrelated incident and kidnaps several of the participants]].]]]]
** A second one starts in volume 7, with three tiers of students (grades 2-3, grades 4-5, and grades 6-7) competing for prizes from the faculty. The "combat leagues" happen every couple of years, but this time around it's complicated by the deaths of two teachers in preceding years: Headmistress Esmeralda jacks up the prize money to attract more students, [[spoiler:and then installs BloodKnight SadistTeacher Vanessa Aldiss as the final obstacle for the upper tier--thinking that a student who does well against her might be a good suspect for the murders of Darius Grenville and Enrico Forghieri]].
** The main plot of Volume 2 revolves around a sword arts tournament among the first-years, organized by Tullio Rossi, an Ytallian student with a ([[UnknownRival mostly imagined]]) rivalry with Oliver. Each participant is given a medallion and duels others to take theirs, with the students with the most medallions at the end of the week advancing to the playoff round. [[spoiler:The tournament is {{aborted|Arc}} before the playoffs when [[SpannerInTheWorks Ophelia Salvadori is consumed by the spell in an unrelated incident and kidnaps several of the participants]].
** A second one starts in volume 7, with three tiers of students (grades 2-3, grades 4-5, and grades 6-7) competing for prizes from the faculty. The "combat leagues" happen every couple of years, but this time around it's complicated by the deaths of two teachers in preceding years: Headmistress Esmeralda jacks up the prize money to attract more students, [[spoiler:and then installs BloodKnight SadistTeacher Vanessa Aldiss as the final obstacle for the upper tier--thinking that a student who does well against her might be a good suspect for the murders of Darius Grenville and Enrico Forghieri]].
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* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: The neckties and inside lining of Kimberly student uniforms are color-coded to identify the student's grade year: first-year students wear red, second-years wear green, third-years wear orange, fourth-years wear purple, seventh-years wear black.
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* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: The neckties and inside lining of Kimberly student uniforms are color-coded to identify the student's grade year: first-year students wear red, second-years wear green, third-years wear orange, fourth-years wear purple, seventh-years sixth-years wear black.
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* ConstructedWorld: The world is fairly transparently a HistoricalFantasy version of the Eurasian supercontinent, taking place in an equivalent to the UsefulNotes/EuropeanUnion. Azia is Asia and Yamatsukini is Japan circa the UsefulNotes/SengokuPeriod, Yelgland seems to be Britain, and Farnland is probably Finland given Katie's surname Aalto.
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* ConstructedWorld: The world is fairly transparently a HistoricalFantasy version of the Eurasian supercontinent, taking place in an equivalent to the UsefulNotes/EuropeanUnion. Azia is Asia and Yamatsukini is Japan circa the UsefulNotes/SengokuPeriod, Yelgland seems to be Britain, and Farnland is probably Finland given Katie's surname Aalto. Other locations mentioned include Ytallia (Italy) and Indus (India).
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* CrapsackWorld: The Union has a rigid [[FantasticCasteSystem class system]] with [[{{Magocracy}} mages firmly at the top]]. {{Muggles}} are second-class citizens, and intelligent nonhumans are third-class ''if they're lucky''. Furthermore, the typical mage morality prioritizes [[ForScience pushing the limits of magical research]] above all other concerns. While there is a decently strong InternalReformist movement, people who try to reject this system outright tend to turn to cults of the gods of other worlds, {{Eldritch Abomination}}s that see "our" world as easy pickings due to an ancient alliance of mages and demihumans having killed its god fifty thousand years ago, and are pursued by an order of {{Military Mage}}s called the Gnostic Hunters that seek to stamp out the cults and their masters at all costs.
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''Reign of the Seven Spellblades'' (''七つの魔剣が支配する Nanatsu no Maken ga Shihai Suru'') is a DarkFantasy light novel series written by Creator/BokutoUno (author of ''LightNovel/AlderaminOnTheSky'') with illustrations by Creator/RuriaMiyuki, published under Kadokawa's Creator/DengekiBunko imprint beginning in September 2018. It has a manga adaptation by Creator/SakaeEsuno (creator of ''Manga/FutureDiary''), which began its run in 2019. Both were licensed by Creator/YenPress for English publication beginning in 2021. It has an upcoming anime adaptation.
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''Reign of the Seven Spellblades'' (''七つの魔剣が支配する Nanatsu no Maken ga Shihai Suru'') is a DarkFantasy light novel series written by Creator/BokutoUno (author of ''LightNovel/AlderaminOnTheSky'') ''Literature/AlderaminOnTheSky'') with illustrations by Creator/RuriaMiyuki, published under Kadokawa's Creator/DengekiBunko imprint beginning in September 2018. It has a manga adaptation by Creator/SakaeEsuno (creator of ''Manga/FutureDiary''), which began its run in 2019. Both were licensed by Creator/YenPress for English publication beginning in 2021. It has an upcoming anime adaptation.
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''Reign of the Seven Spellblades'' (''七つの魔剣が支配する Nanatsu no Maken ga Shihai Suru'', "''Rule of the Seven Magic Swords''") is a DarkFantasy light novel series written by Creator/BokutoUno (author of ''LightNovel/AlderaminOnTheSky'') with illustrations by Creator/RuriaMiyuki, published under Kadokawa's Creator/DengekiBunko imprint beginning in September 2018. It has a manga adaptation by Creator/SakaeEsuno (creator of ''Manga/FutureDiary''), which began its run in 2019. Both were licensed by Creator/YenPress for English publication beginning in 2021. It has an upcoming anime adaptation.
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''Reign of the Seven Spellblades'' (''七つの魔剣が支配する Nanatsu no Maken ga Shihai Suru'', "''Rule of the Seven Magic Swords''") Suru'') is a DarkFantasy light novel series written by Creator/BokutoUno (author of ''LightNovel/AlderaminOnTheSky'') with illustrations by Creator/RuriaMiyuki, published under Kadokawa's Creator/DengekiBunko imprint beginning in September 2018. It has a manga adaptation by Creator/SakaeEsuno (creator of ''Manga/FutureDiary''), which began its run in 2019. Both were licensed by Creator/YenPress for English publication beginning in 2021. It has an upcoming anime adaptation.
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* StudentsSecretSociety: The MythArc of the series revolves around a conspiracy by a secret society of students at Kimberly Magic Academy to assassinate seven professors to avenge the torturous murder of their former student Chloe Halford in the prologue to volume 1. [[spoiler:They are led by main character Oliver Horn himself, who is Halford's secret son, and most of his coconspirators are members of his extended family.]]
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* {{Calvinball}}: In volume 6, Nanao proposes a game of "demons", what we would call [[https://www.wikihow.com/Play-Zombie-Tag zombie tag]], to treat Oliver feeling uncomfortable in his own skin [[spoiler:due to the growth spurt he suddenly had as a result of having CastFromLifespan during the AssassinationAttempt against Enrico Forghieri]]. So the Sword Roses spend literally hours chasing each other around their laboratory and making up new rules as they go along by collective agreement. They decide to keep the "rule" about "free hugs on request" permanently even after the game is over.
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* BreatherEpisode: Volume 4 has no significantly high stakes; the most that happens in it is exploration of the relationships between the Sword Roses and Nanao's broomsports matches. It's positioned between the urgent volumes 3 and 5, involving respectively [[spoiler:the Sword Roses going into the labyrinth to rescue Pete from Ophelia Salvadori after she's consumed by the spell]] and [[spoiler:Oliver and his co-conspirators plotting to murder Professor Forghieri and suffering grievous losses]].
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* FantasyConflictCounterpart: The test to enter the the third level of the labyrinth from the second consists of two {{undead}} armies reenacting a historical battle between "Rumoa" and "Kurtago" involving "swordrhinos", the "Battle of Diama". It's the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Zama Battle of Zama]] ([[CallARabbitASmeerp the "swordrhinos" are war elephants]]), and the point of the test is to help the side representing Carthage to win instead of Rome. [[spoiler:The Sword Roses use "toolplants" created by Guy to conjure fences of trees that foil the "Rumoan" cavalry charge against the infantry's flanks, allowing Nanao to make a literal DecapitationStrike against the enemy general.]]
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* AdultsAreUseless: [[JustifiedTrope By design.]] As a general rule, the instructors at Kimberly seldom intervene in problems internal to the student body: they're not even allowed to go into the labyrinth after a missing student until the eighth day--at which point it's usually assumed they'll be trying to recover bodies rather than rescue survivors. The students are expected to solve their problems themselves as part of a curriculum meant to foster self-reliance, teamwork, problem-solving, and fighting skill, which is all TrainingFromHell for Gnostic Hunters.
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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/reign_of_the_seven_spellblades_ln.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:'''Oliver Horn:''' Don't cry.\\
'''Nanao Hibiya:''' Thank you.]]
Springtime at Kimberly Magic Academy brings a new batch of first-year students, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as they begin their journey to become full-fledged mages. Among these newcomers are Oliver Horn, a studious boy equally skilled with the wand and the blade, and Nanao Hibiya, a strong-willed samurai girl from the distant nation of Yamatsu. The wheels of fate bring these two souls together at Kimberly, where they become both comrades and rivals in equal measure. However, lurking within the academy's halls are countless dangers and dark secrets guaranteed to threaten not only their friendship--but their very lives...
''Reign of the Seven Spellblades'' (''七つの魔剣が支配する Nanatsu no Maken ga Shihai Suru'', "''Rule of the Seven Magic Swords''") is a DarkFantasy light novel series written by Creator/BokutoUno (author of ''LightNovel/AlderaminOnTheSky'') with illustrations by Creator/RuriaMiyuki, published under Kadokawa's Creator/DengekiBunko imprint beginning in September 2018. It has a manga adaptation by Creator/SakaeEsuno (creator of ''Manga/FutureDiary''), which began its run in 2019. Both were licensed by Creator/YenPress for English publication beginning in 2021. It has an upcoming anime adaptation.
----
!! This series provides examples of:
* AcademyOfAdventure: A dark example. The academy is built on top of a labyrinth that is full of monsters, dangerous environments and unhinged upperclassmen who have no qualms about harming fellow students. The school provides very little protection from any of these things and it's up to the students themselves to look out for each other.
* AccidentalDiscovery: The underlying principle of the Second Spellblade, "Creumbra, the self-racing shadow", was discovered by accident when a mage tried to create a {{Doppelganger}} of himself and caused a RealityBreakingParadox that blew up both him and everything for several miles around. Other mages copied his research and managed to reproduce the effect at a controllable level, resulting in an UnblockableAttack that [[DisintegratorRay disintegrates the opponent]].
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Oliver is normally a pretty cool-headed NiceGuy. He's also a MasterSwordsman (by first-year standards) and a fairly accomplished mage. While it's hard to arouse him to real anger, if you pick on his friends to their faces, [[BerserkButton watch out]].
* {{BFS}}: Nanao's katana, at least by Union standards: at first glance Oliver considers it way too large to make a good athame, which are typically one-handed swords between one and two feet in length (Oliver's resembles a smallsword). Nanao quickly proves him wrong: while she's inexperienced with magic, she's a former {{samurai}} ChildSoldier who was plucked from a Yamatsukuni battlefield where she had been fighting a LastStand as the rearguard of a defeated army, even killing the son-in-law of the enemy general in a suicide charge.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Kimberly's new students have to come to terms with the fact that magicians don't operate on conventional morality. They will do whatever it takes to advance their own goals and research.
* BrickJoke: In volume 1, after Headmistress Esmeralda gives her welcoming DareToBeBadass speech to the new students, [[StupidQuestionBait she asks if there are any questions]], and [[RhetoricalQuestionBlunder Nanao pipes up with a suggestion of a headache remedy]]. It seems like a throwaway joke to illustrate Nanao's fearlessness and FishOutOfWater status. [[spoiler:Then in volume 5, Nanao encounters Esmeralda again at FlyingBroomstick practice and promptly asks her if the remedy helped any.]]
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: The neckties and inside lining of Kimberly student uniforms are color-coded to identify the student's grade year: first-year students wear red, second-years wear green, third-years wear orange, fourth-years wear purple, seventh-years wear black.
* ConstructedWorld: The world is fairly transparently a HistoricalFantasy version of the Eurasian supercontinent, taking place in an equivalent to the UsefulNotes/EuropeanUnion. Azia is Asia and Yamatsukini is Japan circa the UsefulNotes/SengokuPeriod, Yelgland seems to be Britain, and Farnland is probably Finland given Katie's surname Aalto.
* TheCorruption: There is a phenomenon called "consumed by the spell" where magicians would gradually go berserk. [[spoiler:This happens to Ophelia in Book 2]].
* ADateWithRosiePalms: {{Discussed}} in volume 4. Chela tells Oliver that masturbation won't help him deal with the aftereffects of Ophelia's Perfume: to clear it out of his system, he ''needs'' another person involved, though penetrative sex isn't necessary. After suggesting he try it with Nanao, she conducts some IntimateHealing of her own, and in order to get him to respond the way she needs him to for it to work, tells him (falsely) that she had touched herself while thinking of him.
* DeadlySparring: This trope is [[DefiedTrope defied]] when Oliver Horn and Nanao Hibiya square off for a demonstration duel in their first period sword arts class. Both fighters prove themselves both MasterSwordsmen, with Oliver's sword arts training matching well against Nanao's battlefield experience as a {{samurai}}. When the duel starts getting ''very'' serious, the instructor calls a halt to the match because their intensity has broken the dulling spell he'd placed on their swords beforehand.
* DeathSeeker: Nanao, early on. She fearlessly charges an enraged troll, there's the DeadlySparring incident with Oliver where it nearly became a DuelToTheDeath, and then she attempts a rearguard action in the labyrinth against two upperclassmen before the StudentCouncilPresident intervened. Oliver et al. finally corner her about it and force her to reveal that she's been unsure up till then whether she actually died on the battlefield back in Yamatsukuni and has been having a DyingDream that will end if she falls. Oliver persuades her that yes, this is real, and that she should from now on only draw her sword with the intent of surviving.
* {{Expy}}: The author has definitely read ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
** Katie is similar to Hermione with her long curly brown hair and activism for non-humans. Though in a case of DecompositeCharacter, Pete Reston got Hermione's bookworm tendencies and being a MageBornOfMuggles.
** Darius Grenville is similar to Snape in both looks and antagonism towards the protagonists.
** Richard Andrews has some similarities to Malfoy, as he is from a noble family and develops a rivalry with Oliver, the protagonist.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: The Union seems to be a European Union equivalent, and Azia is obviously UsefulNotes/{{Asia}}.
* FictionalSport: "Broomsports" in the series consist variously of obstacle course races on {{Flying Broomstick}}s, one-on-one jousting, and team battles--the latter of which Nanao quickly excels at after a notoriously MoodyMount takes a liking to her. Oliver, who is merely okay at riding brooms, is drafted to be her "catcher"--i.e. running around with a wand below the match to magically catch anybody she knocks off their brooms before they hit the ground, or potentially Nanao herself should she be unhorsed.
* FirstEpisodeTwist: At the end of the first volume, [[spoiler:we learn that Oliver enrolled in Kimberly to kill the teachers who killed his mother, which was shown in the prologue.]]
* FlyingBroomstick: Rather than being {{Animate Inanimate Object}}s, broomsticks in this series are stated to be a species of magical creature in their own right that feeds symbiotically on its rider's mana. Getting to ride one is akin to breaking in a horse; actual cleaning brooms are dead individuals.
* TheGlomp: Nanao does this to Oliver at lunch in volume 4, after imbibing a beverage that turned out to have a lot more alcohol than anybody realized. Oliver has to run for the bathroom to cool off because the proximity to Nanao set off Ophelia's lingering Perfume.
* GodIsDead: Explained during the first astronomy class in volume 5. Ancient mages in alliance with demihumans killed the planet's god fifty thousand years ago to free intelligent life from its interference. However, this had the unintended consequence of making the world look like easy pickings for every ''other'' planet's god, forcing the creation of the Gnostic Hunters to battle the resulting {{Alien Invasion}}s.
* IntimateHealing: In volume 4, Oliver is still fighting the aftereffects of Ophelia Salvadori's [[SmellsSexy Perfume]], causing him to become uncomfortably aroused when a drunken Nanao glomps him. When Chela realizes it, she corners him in the restaurant men's room and advises him that, AsYouKnow, if he's still feeling the effects after this long, the only surefire way to clear the Perfume out of his system will be to satisfy the urge, and [[ADateWithRosiePalms not by himself]]. Though she questions whether he'd rather sleep with Nanao (both of them having admitted to their attraction at this point, [[IUhYouToo though neither is willing to call it "love" yet]]), she solves the issue with a magic-assisted handjob through their clothes. {{Justified}} because SexMagic was involved in causing the problem to begin with, so it makes sense that a similar effect would be useful in resolving it.
* LastStand: In a {{flashback}}, Nanao led the rearguard of a defeated army, holding a mountain pass. This ended in a cavalry suicide charge when the enemy general brought up their archers, with Nanao making it almost all the way to the general and killing his son-in-law in passing before the ashigaru got her surrounded with a wall of spears. At which point a Union mage suddenly arrived and pulled her from the battlefield.
* LikeBrotherAndSister: Oliver and Chela are the de facto co-leaders of [[TrueCompanions the Sword Roses]] (he TheHero, she the TeamMom), and the two are social peers as mage {{Blue Blood}}s and get along very well. However, Oliver is in love with Nanao, and though Chela performs some IntimateHealing on him in volume 4 to address the aftereffects of a villain's SexMagic, it's motivated solely by concern for his health, and she feels very guilty about [[QuestionableConsent low-key manipulating him into it]] afterwards.
* LikeParentLikeSpouse: Nanao starts to draw comparisons from various characters who knew the deceased Chloe Halford: they're similarly talented at sword arts and {{Flying Broomstick}}s, even bonding to the same MoodyMount due to their similar mana signatures. [[spoiler:Oliver and his close relatives are the only ones present who know that Chloe was his mother.]]
* LoveAtFirstPunch: Nanao speaks of the {{samurai}} ideal "shiawase", of a DuelToTheDeath with someone they love and respect--which she felt towards Oliver when their swords crossed in a classroom sparring session, and was torn up when he turned her down for a rematch. All of which is much to Oliver's chagrin when she explains it:
-->'''Katie:''' Um... to sum up... you got all depressed because Oliver rejected you?\\
'''Oliver:''' [[DudeNotFunny Sorry, Katie, but could you shut up?]]\\
'''Nanao:''' No, she is largely correct. Was I infatuated with your blade or the man behind it? Perhaps there is little difference between the two.
* LoveHurts: In volume 4, after the Sword Roses get TheTalk from Oliver and Chela, Katie asks Nanao in their dorm room if she's in love with Oliver. Nanao admits she has feelings for him, but much to her chagrin she also hasn't been able to kick her desire for a DuelToTheDeath with him. The scene is made extra painful by the fact Nanao knows Katie has an unrequited crush on him as well.
* LoveTriangle: Oliver Horn quickly attracts crushes from both Katie and Nanao.
* MagicKnight: {{Justified}}: as is explained during the first session of the "sword arts" class, within a certain range called the "one step, one spell" distance, a physical weapon can strike a mage faster than any mage can cast a spell. Mages adopted sword training (referring to swords as "athame") a hundred years ago after a prominent archmage was killed in a duel by a {{Muggle}} swordsman this way.
* TheMagocracy: The government of the Union is not discussed in detail but is strongly {{implied}} to be this. Mages sit firmly at the top of the [[FantasticCasteSystem class system]], to the point where non-magic expectant mothers sometimes approach random mages hoping they can cast a spell that would [[MageBornOfMuggles make the unborn child a mage]] (the existence of such a spell is explicitly stated to be an urban legend by the protagonists). Meanwhile, demihumans are firmly second-class citizens ''at best'': only a select few species even have civil rights, though there's a strong mage movement to change this.
* MalevolentArchitecture: Kimberly is built atop of an ancient labyrinth that has a tendency to encroach upon the school buildings after nightfall: Oliver, Pete, and Michela return to a classroom to retrieve a forgotten textbook only to discover when they try to leave that the door now opens into the upper levels of the labyrinth.
* MilitaryMage: Kimberly Magic Academy is accurately, if occasionally derisively, referred to as "vocational school for Gnostic Hunters", these being an order of wizards who essentially act as counterinsurgency operators. Their job is rooting out and destroying cults of the gods of the solar system's other planets, which have the potential to cause TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.
* NameOrderConfusion: {{Discussed}}. Nanao initially introduces herself in the Eastern style as "Hibiya Nanao", but then notes that by Union custom she would be called Nanao Hibiya. Her name is left in Western order from then on.
* NeverBringAGunToAKnifeFight: The origin of sword arts was a swordsman killing a noted mage in a fair duel, after which the mages realized that from a mutual cold start, a man with a sword can close with and strike a mage twelve feet away in the time it takes for that mage to cast a single spell.
* NippleAndDimed: Oliver catches Nanao bathing outside, stripped to the waist ([[InnocentFanserviceGirl in full view of the boys' dorm, no less]]). The novel art uses a BoobsAndButtPose camera angle to hide everything but some sideboob; Oliver is more focused on her [[CoveredInScars collection of battle scars]] than her assets. In the manga we get a frontal view but her nipples are whited out in one panel and given BarbieDollAnatomy in the second.
* OverlyLongHug: Oliver and Nanao have their first real public display of affection in volume 4, after Nanao's first senior-level broomsports match. Intending it as a reward for getting through the match without injury, Oliver gives her a big hug--and then neither one of them can bring themselves to end the hug for a full ten minutes.
* PowerDyesYourHair: Nanao has a trait called "innocent color" which causes her normally black hair to turn white when she draws magical power. Oliver's narration explains that it only happens in mages with exceptional magical circulation and a crystalline hair structure that allows uninterrupted flow of magical particles.
* QuestionableConsent: In volume 4, Oliver is suffering aftereffects of the previous volume antagonist's SexMagic. His friend Chela corners him in a restaurant bathroom after he has an episode, and informs him that, AsYouKnow, if he's still feeling the effects of [[SmellsSexy succubus Perfume]] this long after the incident, then the only way to clear it out of his system will be to satisfy the urge, and [[ADateWithRosiePalms not by himself]]. After suggesting he try approaching his LoveInterest Nanao for sex without getting a response,[[note]]The two have admitted to their attraction at this point but aren't quite ready for a RelationshipUpgrade.[[/note]] she manipulates him into some IntimateHealing that amounts to a magic-assisted handjob through their clothes, to which he never clearly consents. To Chela's credit, she feels extremely guilty about it afterwards: [[LikeBrotherAndSister they're not attracted to each other that way]] and she worries she might have irreparably damaged their friendship by trying to help him.
* SadistTeacher: The majority of the teachers are this. The headmistress of Kimberley openly states during orientation that about twenty percent of entrants will not survive to graduate. It's meant to be TrainingFromHell for battlemages called Gnostic Hunters.
* StumbledIntoThePlot: The attack on Katie at the entrance ceremony. [[spoiler:Another first-year cast a spell on Katie to make her run towards the parade of magical creatures. At that same moment, the troll made a break for the exit to try and escape from Miligan experimenting on him. He didn't mean to harm anyone, he just became disoriented when everybody nearby panicked.]]
* SuperBreedingProgram: A lot of magic traits can be inherited, and the mage world customarily places pushing the limits of sorcery above all other concerns. This means that mage aristocrats frequently try to breed more powerful mage children and add new traits to their bloodlines. Even Kimberly participates to an extent: the school tacitly encourages TeenPregnancy by explicitly permitting third-years and up to conceive children and supporting child-rearing. This also leads to Nanao and Pete being approached repeatedly for dates by other students starting in volume 4, since both are [[MageBornOfMuggles Mages Born of Muggles]] (and thus don't pose any risks of inbreeding) with rare abilities (Nanao's [[PowerDyesYourHair Innocent Color]] and proficiency with sword arts, Pete's [[SexShifter reversiism]]). Oliver himself comments in his internal monologue when he's [[LoveConfession forced to admit his feelings for Nanao]] that he doesn't "want their relationship reduced to reproduction and inheritance", and so declines to specifically answer whether he wants to have children with her.
* SupernaturallyValidatedTransPerson: In volume 2, Pete Reston turns out to have a magical trait called Reversi that causes him to [[GenderBender switch his biological sex]] overnight. He still identifies as male for the moment, but alludes to having experienced possible dysphoric episodes. The Kimberly WizardingSchool turns out to have a [[JapaneseSchoolClub student club]] for mages with gender- and sex-linked magic, which non-binary upperclassman Carlos Whitrow invites Pete to join.
* TheTalk: {{Reconstructed}} in volume 4. After Nanao and Pete are approached a little aggressively in the dining hall by other students, Oliver and Chela host an informal sex ed seminar for the group, focusing particularly on consent and the peculiarities of mage sexual relations. One of the things that comes up is that the Union's mage aristocracy has what amounts to an informal SuperBreedingProgram, and Nanao and Pete's unique traits are highly sought-after additions to mage bloodlines as a consequence.
* TheirFirstTime: {{Discussed}} when Oliver and Chela give the Sword Roses TheTalk: Chela mentions that statistically, about eighty percent of Kimberly students will have had their first sexual experience by the time they graduate.
* TournamentArc: The main plot of Volume 2 revolves around a sword arts tournament among the first-years, organized by Tullio Rossi, an Ytallian student with a ([[UnknownRival mostly imagined]]) rivalry with Oliver. Each participant is given a medallion and duels others to take theirs, with the students with the most medallions at the end of the week advancing to the playoff round. [[spoiler:The tournament is {{aborted|Arc}} before the playoffs when [[SpannerInTheWorks Ophelia Salvadori is consumed by the spell in an unrelated incident and kidnaps several of the participants]].]]
* TriangRelations: A multiway TriangRelationships/TypeFour example centered on the relationship between Oliver and Nanao.
** Oliver and Nanao are strongly attracted to each other from book one on. Katie also has a crush on Oliver starting in book one, and Pete starts to act like a {{tsundere}} towards him in volume five. Oliver doesn't return their feelings that way.
** Meanwhile, Nanao also has her own suitors, notably Tullio Rossi. It's entirely one-sided: Nanao is 100% [[SingleTargetSexuality Oliver-sexual]].
* UnblockableAttack: The eponymous "Spellblades" are a set of (initially) six offensive techniques [[MagicKnight merging magic and sword arts]], described in an {{epigraph}} to volume 1 as "A strike that can be neither dodged nor blocked, thereby guaranteeing death. Fulfill these conditions within the one-step, one-spell distance, and you have what is called a 'spellblade.'" So far, three have been identified in the series.
** The Second Spellblade, "Creumbra, the self-racing shadow", which exploits the explosive consequences of a mage's failed experiment in magically duplicating himself to disintegrate the opponent. [[spoiler:Used by Theodore [=McFarlane=] in volume 4 to slay an unidentified man attacking mages with a knife.]]
** The Fourth Spellblade, "Angustavia, the thread that crosses the abyss", which explores [[MultipleChoiceFuture possible futures]] to find one where the wielder succeeds in striking down their opponent. [[spoiler:Previously learned by Chloe Halford, her son Oliver is [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique able to use it in extremis]] by drawing on his mother's GhostMemory from her soul contained within him. He uses it in a one-cut duel with Darius Grenville, and as a FinishingMove against Enrico Forghieri.]]
** The currently unnamed Seventh Spellblade, with which the wielder uses sheer force of will to simply cut everything between themselves and their target, [[AbsurdlySharpBlade even the space between them]]. [[spoiler:Invented by Nanao in her and Oliver's fight with Vera Miligan, in order to defeat the basilisk eye on Miligan's left hand when she's out of range of a conventional strike. [[AchievementsInIgnorance Nanao herself doesn't know how she did it]] and is unable to duplicate it.]]
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: The driving ethos behind Katie's civil rights activism for non-humans. Since the story takes place in a setting where non-humans like centaurs, elves, etc. exist with humans, there are issues surrounding just which species gets to be considered "human" and given civil rights while others are treated as mere beasts. Katie comes from a family noted for its activism on behalf of intelligent nonhumans, which puts her in conflict with students tied to the conservative factions early on.
* WizardingSchool: Kimberly Magic Academy practices SocialDarwinism towards its students, with the student body [[AdultsAreUseless expected to solve problems without the intervention of the faculty]]. There actually is a reason for this: Kimberly is effectively a vocational school for Gnostic Hunters--elite battlemages who travel to other planets of the solar system to battle {{Alien Invasion}}s commanded by those planets' gods.
* WizardDuel: There's a dueling class, and the second book is focused on them.
* YouRemindMeOfX: Nanao reminds Oliver, Theodore, and Esmeralda of [[spoiler:Chloe Halford]]. This might even extend to her broom, which once belonged to [[spoiler:Chloe]].
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[[caption-width-right:350:'''Oliver Horn:''' Don't cry.\\
'''Nanao Hibiya:''' Thank you.]]
Springtime at Kimberly Magic Academy brings a new batch of first-year students, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as they begin their journey to become full-fledged mages. Among these newcomers are Oliver Horn, a studious boy equally skilled with the wand and the blade, and Nanao Hibiya, a strong-willed samurai girl from the distant nation of Yamatsu. The wheels of fate bring these two souls together at Kimberly, where they become both comrades and rivals in equal measure. However, lurking within the academy's halls are countless dangers and dark secrets guaranteed to threaten not only their friendship--but their very lives...
''Reign of the Seven Spellblades'' (''七つの魔剣が支配する Nanatsu no Maken ga Shihai Suru'', "''Rule of the Seven Magic Swords''") is a DarkFantasy light novel series written by Creator/BokutoUno (author of ''LightNovel/AlderaminOnTheSky'') with illustrations by Creator/RuriaMiyuki, published under Kadokawa's Creator/DengekiBunko imprint beginning in September 2018. It has a manga adaptation by Creator/SakaeEsuno (creator of ''Manga/FutureDiary''), which began its run in 2019. Both were licensed by Creator/YenPress for English publication beginning in 2021. It has an upcoming anime adaptation.
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!! This series provides examples of:
* AcademyOfAdventure: A dark example. The academy is built on top of a labyrinth that is full of monsters, dangerous environments and unhinged upperclassmen who have no qualms about harming fellow students. The school provides very little protection from any of these things and it's up to the students themselves to look out for each other.
* AccidentalDiscovery: The underlying principle of the Second Spellblade, "Creumbra, the self-racing shadow", was discovered by accident when a mage tried to create a {{Doppelganger}} of himself and caused a RealityBreakingParadox that blew up both him and everything for several miles around. Other mages copied his research and managed to reproduce the effect at a controllable level, resulting in an UnblockableAttack that [[DisintegratorRay disintegrates the opponent]].
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Oliver is normally a pretty cool-headed NiceGuy. He's also a MasterSwordsman (by first-year standards) and a fairly accomplished mage. While it's hard to arouse him to real anger, if you pick on his friends to their faces, [[BerserkButton watch out]].
* {{BFS}}: Nanao's katana, at least by Union standards: at first glance Oliver considers it way too large to make a good athame, which are typically one-handed swords between one and two feet in length (Oliver's resembles a smallsword). Nanao quickly proves him wrong: while she's inexperienced with magic, she's a former {{samurai}} ChildSoldier who was plucked from a Yamatsukuni battlefield where she had been fighting a LastStand as the rearguard of a defeated army, even killing the son-in-law of the enemy general in a suicide charge.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Kimberly's new students have to come to terms with the fact that magicians don't operate on conventional morality. They will do whatever it takes to advance their own goals and research.
* BrickJoke: In volume 1, after Headmistress Esmeralda gives her welcoming DareToBeBadass speech to the new students, [[StupidQuestionBait she asks if there are any questions]], and [[RhetoricalQuestionBlunder Nanao pipes up with a suggestion of a headache remedy]]. It seems like a throwaway joke to illustrate Nanao's fearlessness and FishOutOfWater status. [[spoiler:Then in volume 5, Nanao encounters Esmeralda again at FlyingBroomstick practice and promptly asks her if the remedy helped any.]]
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: The neckties and inside lining of Kimberly student uniforms are color-coded to identify the student's grade year: first-year students wear red, second-years wear green, third-years wear orange, fourth-years wear purple, seventh-years wear black.
* ConstructedWorld: The world is fairly transparently a HistoricalFantasy version of the Eurasian supercontinent, taking place in an equivalent to the UsefulNotes/EuropeanUnion. Azia is Asia and Yamatsukini is Japan circa the UsefulNotes/SengokuPeriod, Yelgland seems to be Britain, and Farnland is probably Finland given Katie's surname Aalto.
* TheCorruption: There is a phenomenon called "consumed by the spell" where magicians would gradually go berserk. [[spoiler:This happens to Ophelia in Book 2]].
* ADateWithRosiePalms: {{Discussed}} in volume 4. Chela tells Oliver that masturbation won't help him deal with the aftereffects of Ophelia's Perfume: to clear it out of his system, he ''needs'' another person involved, though penetrative sex isn't necessary. After suggesting he try it with Nanao, she conducts some IntimateHealing of her own, and in order to get him to respond the way she needs him to for it to work, tells him (falsely) that she had touched herself while thinking of him.
* DeadlySparring: This trope is [[DefiedTrope defied]] when Oliver Horn and Nanao Hibiya square off for a demonstration duel in their first period sword arts class. Both fighters prove themselves both MasterSwordsmen, with Oliver's sword arts training matching well against Nanao's battlefield experience as a {{samurai}}. When the duel starts getting ''very'' serious, the instructor calls a halt to the match because their intensity has broken the dulling spell he'd placed on their swords beforehand.
* DeathSeeker: Nanao, early on. She fearlessly charges an enraged troll, there's the DeadlySparring incident with Oliver where it nearly became a DuelToTheDeath, and then she attempts a rearguard action in the labyrinth against two upperclassmen before the StudentCouncilPresident intervened. Oliver et al. finally corner her about it and force her to reveal that she's been unsure up till then whether she actually died on the battlefield back in Yamatsukuni and has been having a DyingDream that will end if she falls. Oliver persuades her that yes, this is real, and that she should from now on only draw her sword with the intent of surviving.
* {{Expy}}: The author has definitely read ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
** Katie is similar to Hermione with her long curly brown hair and activism for non-humans. Though in a case of DecompositeCharacter, Pete Reston got Hermione's bookworm tendencies and being a MageBornOfMuggles.
** Darius Grenville is similar to Snape in both looks and antagonism towards the protagonists.
** Richard Andrews has some similarities to Malfoy, as he is from a noble family and develops a rivalry with Oliver, the protagonist.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: The Union seems to be a European Union equivalent, and Azia is obviously UsefulNotes/{{Asia}}.
* FictionalSport: "Broomsports" in the series consist variously of obstacle course races on {{Flying Broomstick}}s, one-on-one jousting, and team battles--the latter of which Nanao quickly excels at after a notoriously MoodyMount takes a liking to her. Oliver, who is merely okay at riding brooms, is drafted to be her "catcher"--i.e. running around with a wand below the match to magically catch anybody she knocks off their brooms before they hit the ground, or potentially Nanao herself should she be unhorsed.
* FirstEpisodeTwist: At the end of the first volume, [[spoiler:we learn that Oliver enrolled in Kimberly to kill the teachers who killed his mother, which was shown in the prologue.]]
* FlyingBroomstick: Rather than being {{Animate Inanimate Object}}s, broomsticks in this series are stated to be a species of magical creature in their own right that feeds symbiotically on its rider's mana. Getting to ride one is akin to breaking in a horse; actual cleaning brooms are dead individuals.
* TheGlomp: Nanao does this to Oliver at lunch in volume 4, after imbibing a beverage that turned out to have a lot more alcohol than anybody realized. Oliver has to run for the bathroom to cool off because the proximity to Nanao set off Ophelia's lingering Perfume.
* GodIsDead: Explained during the first astronomy class in volume 5. Ancient mages in alliance with demihumans killed the planet's god fifty thousand years ago to free intelligent life from its interference. However, this had the unintended consequence of making the world look like easy pickings for every ''other'' planet's god, forcing the creation of the Gnostic Hunters to battle the resulting {{Alien Invasion}}s.
* IntimateHealing: In volume 4, Oliver is still fighting the aftereffects of Ophelia Salvadori's [[SmellsSexy Perfume]], causing him to become uncomfortably aroused when a drunken Nanao glomps him. When Chela realizes it, she corners him in the restaurant men's room and advises him that, AsYouKnow, if he's still feeling the effects after this long, the only surefire way to clear the Perfume out of his system will be to satisfy the urge, and [[ADateWithRosiePalms not by himself]]. Though she questions whether he'd rather sleep with Nanao (both of them having admitted to their attraction at this point, [[IUhYouToo though neither is willing to call it "love" yet]]), she solves the issue with a magic-assisted handjob through their clothes. {{Justified}} because SexMagic was involved in causing the problem to begin with, so it makes sense that a similar effect would be useful in resolving it.
* LastStand: In a {{flashback}}, Nanao led the rearguard of a defeated army, holding a mountain pass. This ended in a cavalry suicide charge when the enemy general brought up their archers, with Nanao making it almost all the way to the general and killing his son-in-law in passing before the ashigaru got her surrounded with a wall of spears. At which point a Union mage suddenly arrived and pulled her from the battlefield.
* LikeBrotherAndSister: Oliver and Chela are the de facto co-leaders of [[TrueCompanions the Sword Roses]] (he TheHero, she the TeamMom), and the two are social peers as mage {{Blue Blood}}s and get along very well. However, Oliver is in love with Nanao, and though Chela performs some IntimateHealing on him in volume 4 to address the aftereffects of a villain's SexMagic, it's motivated solely by concern for his health, and she feels very guilty about [[QuestionableConsent low-key manipulating him into it]] afterwards.
* LikeParentLikeSpouse: Nanao starts to draw comparisons from various characters who knew the deceased Chloe Halford: they're similarly talented at sword arts and {{Flying Broomstick}}s, even bonding to the same MoodyMount due to their similar mana signatures. [[spoiler:Oliver and his close relatives are the only ones present who know that Chloe was his mother.]]
* LoveAtFirstPunch: Nanao speaks of the {{samurai}} ideal "shiawase", of a DuelToTheDeath with someone they love and respect--which she felt towards Oliver when their swords crossed in a classroom sparring session, and was torn up when he turned her down for a rematch. All of which is much to Oliver's chagrin when she explains it:
-->'''Katie:''' Um... to sum up... you got all depressed because Oliver rejected you?\\
'''Oliver:''' [[DudeNotFunny Sorry, Katie, but could you shut up?]]\\
'''Nanao:''' No, she is largely correct. Was I infatuated with your blade or the man behind it? Perhaps there is little difference between the two.
* LoveHurts: In volume 4, after the Sword Roses get TheTalk from Oliver and Chela, Katie asks Nanao in their dorm room if she's in love with Oliver. Nanao admits she has feelings for him, but much to her chagrin she also hasn't been able to kick her desire for a DuelToTheDeath with him. The scene is made extra painful by the fact Nanao knows Katie has an unrequited crush on him as well.
* LoveTriangle: Oliver Horn quickly attracts crushes from both Katie and Nanao.
* MagicKnight: {{Justified}}: as is explained during the first session of the "sword arts" class, within a certain range called the "one step, one spell" distance, a physical weapon can strike a mage faster than any mage can cast a spell. Mages adopted sword training (referring to swords as "athame") a hundred years ago after a prominent archmage was killed in a duel by a {{Muggle}} swordsman this way.
* TheMagocracy: The government of the Union is not discussed in detail but is strongly {{implied}} to be this. Mages sit firmly at the top of the [[FantasticCasteSystem class system]], to the point where non-magic expectant mothers sometimes approach random mages hoping they can cast a spell that would [[MageBornOfMuggles make the unborn child a mage]] (the existence of such a spell is explicitly stated to be an urban legend by the protagonists). Meanwhile, demihumans are firmly second-class citizens ''at best'': only a select few species even have civil rights, though there's a strong mage movement to change this.
* MalevolentArchitecture: Kimberly is built atop of an ancient labyrinth that has a tendency to encroach upon the school buildings after nightfall: Oliver, Pete, and Michela return to a classroom to retrieve a forgotten textbook only to discover when they try to leave that the door now opens into the upper levels of the labyrinth.
* MilitaryMage: Kimberly Magic Academy is accurately, if occasionally derisively, referred to as "vocational school for Gnostic Hunters", these being an order of wizards who essentially act as counterinsurgency operators. Their job is rooting out and destroying cults of the gods of the solar system's other planets, which have the potential to cause TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.
* NameOrderConfusion: {{Discussed}}. Nanao initially introduces herself in the Eastern style as "Hibiya Nanao", but then notes that by Union custom she would be called Nanao Hibiya. Her name is left in Western order from then on.
* NeverBringAGunToAKnifeFight: The origin of sword arts was a swordsman killing a noted mage in a fair duel, after which the mages realized that from a mutual cold start, a man with a sword can close with and strike a mage twelve feet away in the time it takes for that mage to cast a single spell.
* NippleAndDimed: Oliver catches Nanao bathing outside, stripped to the waist ([[InnocentFanserviceGirl in full view of the boys' dorm, no less]]). The novel art uses a BoobsAndButtPose camera angle to hide everything but some sideboob; Oliver is more focused on her [[CoveredInScars collection of battle scars]] than her assets. In the manga we get a frontal view but her nipples are whited out in one panel and given BarbieDollAnatomy in the second.
* OverlyLongHug: Oliver and Nanao have their first real public display of affection in volume 4, after Nanao's first senior-level broomsports match. Intending it as a reward for getting through the match without injury, Oliver gives her a big hug--and then neither one of them can bring themselves to end the hug for a full ten minutes.
* PowerDyesYourHair: Nanao has a trait called "innocent color" which causes her normally black hair to turn white when she draws magical power. Oliver's narration explains that it only happens in mages with exceptional magical circulation and a crystalline hair structure that allows uninterrupted flow of magical particles.
* QuestionableConsent: In volume 4, Oliver is suffering aftereffects of the previous volume antagonist's SexMagic. His friend Chela corners him in a restaurant bathroom after he has an episode, and informs him that, AsYouKnow, if he's still feeling the effects of [[SmellsSexy succubus Perfume]] this long after the incident, then the only way to clear it out of his system will be to satisfy the urge, and [[ADateWithRosiePalms not by himself]]. After suggesting he try approaching his LoveInterest Nanao for sex without getting a response,[[note]]The two have admitted to their attraction at this point but aren't quite ready for a RelationshipUpgrade.[[/note]] she manipulates him into some IntimateHealing that amounts to a magic-assisted handjob through their clothes, to which he never clearly consents. To Chela's credit, she feels extremely guilty about it afterwards: [[LikeBrotherAndSister they're not attracted to each other that way]] and she worries she might have irreparably damaged their friendship by trying to help him.
* SadistTeacher: The majority of the teachers are this. The headmistress of Kimberley openly states during orientation that about twenty percent of entrants will not survive to graduate. It's meant to be TrainingFromHell for battlemages called Gnostic Hunters.
* StumbledIntoThePlot: The attack on Katie at the entrance ceremony. [[spoiler:Another first-year cast a spell on Katie to make her run towards the parade of magical creatures. At that same moment, the troll made a break for the exit to try and escape from Miligan experimenting on him. He didn't mean to harm anyone, he just became disoriented when everybody nearby panicked.]]
* SuperBreedingProgram: A lot of magic traits can be inherited, and the mage world customarily places pushing the limits of sorcery above all other concerns. This means that mage aristocrats frequently try to breed more powerful mage children and add new traits to their bloodlines. Even Kimberly participates to an extent: the school tacitly encourages TeenPregnancy by explicitly permitting third-years and up to conceive children and supporting child-rearing. This also leads to Nanao and Pete being approached repeatedly for dates by other students starting in volume 4, since both are [[MageBornOfMuggles Mages Born of Muggles]] (and thus don't pose any risks of inbreeding) with rare abilities (Nanao's [[PowerDyesYourHair Innocent Color]] and proficiency with sword arts, Pete's [[SexShifter reversiism]]). Oliver himself comments in his internal monologue when he's [[LoveConfession forced to admit his feelings for Nanao]] that he doesn't "want their relationship reduced to reproduction and inheritance", and so declines to specifically answer whether he wants to have children with her.
* SupernaturallyValidatedTransPerson: In volume 2, Pete Reston turns out to have a magical trait called Reversi that causes him to [[GenderBender switch his biological sex]] overnight. He still identifies as male for the moment, but alludes to having experienced possible dysphoric episodes. The Kimberly WizardingSchool turns out to have a [[JapaneseSchoolClub student club]] for mages with gender- and sex-linked magic, which non-binary upperclassman Carlos Whitrow invites Pete to join.
* TheTalk: {{Reconstructed}} in volume 4. After Nanao and Pete are approached a little aggressively in the dining hall by other students, Oliver and Chela host an informal sex ed seminar for the group, focusing particularly on consent and the peculiarities of mage sexual relations. One of the things that comes up is that the Union's mage aristocracy has what amounts to an informal SuperBreedingProgram, and Nanao and Pete's unique traits are highly sought-after additions to mage bloodlines as a consequence.
* TheirFirstTime: {{Discussed}} when Oliver and Chela give the Sword Roses TheTalk: Chela mentions that statistically, about eighty percent of Kimberly students will have had their first sexual experience by the time they graduate.
* TournamentArc: The main plot of Volume 2 revolves around a sword arts tournament among the first-years, organized by Tullio Rossi, an Ytallian student with a ([[UnknownRival mostly imagined]]) rivalry with Oliver. Each participant is given a medallion and duels others to take theirs, with the students with the most medallions at the end of the week advancing to the playoff round. [[spoiler:The tournament is {{aborted|Arc}} before the playoffs when [[SpannerInTheWorks Ophelia Salvadori is consumed by the spell in an unrelated incident and kidnaps several of the participants]].]]
* TriangRelations: A multiway TriangRelationships/TypeFour example centered on the relationship between Oliver and Nanao.
** Oliver and Nanao are strongly attracted to each other from book one on. Katie also has a crush on Oliver starting in book one, and Pete starts to act like a {{tsundere}} towards him in volume five. Oliver doesn't return their feelings that way.
** Meanwhile, Nanao also has her own suitors, notably Tullio Rossi. It's entirely one-sided: Nanao is 100% [[SingleTargetSexuality Oliver-sexual]].
* UnblockableAttack: The eponymous "Spellblades" are a set of (initially) six offensive techniques [[MagicKnight merging magic and sword arts]], described in an {{epigraph}} to volume 1 as "A strike that can be neither dodged nor blocked, thereby guaranteeing death. Fulfill these conditions within the one-step, one-spell distance, and you have what is called a 'spellblade.'" So far, three have been identified in the series.
** The Second Spellblade, "Creumbra, the self-racing shadow", which exploits the explosive consequences of a mage's failed experiment in magically duplicating himself to disintegrate the opponent. [[spoiler:Used by Theodore [=McFarlane=] in volume 4 to slay an unidentified man attacking mages with a knife.]]
** The Fourth Spellblade, "Angustavia, the thread that crosses the abyss", which explores [[MultipleChoiceFuture possible futures]] to find one where the wielder succeeds in striking down their opponent. [[spoiler:Previously learned by Chloe Halford, her son Oliver is [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique able to use it in extremis]] by drawing on his mother's GhostMemory from her soul contained within him. He uses it in a one-cut duel with Darius Grenville, and as a FinishingMove against Enrico Forghieri.]]
** The currently unnamed Seventh Spellblade, with which the wielder uses sheer force of will to simply cut everything between themselves and their target, [[AbsurdlySharpBlade even the space between them]]. [[spoiler:Invented by Nanao in her and Oliver's fight with Vera Miligan, in order to defeat the basilisk eye on Miligan's left hand when she's out of range of a conventional strike. [[AchievementsInIgnorance Nanao herself doesn't know how she did it]] and is unable to duplicate it.]]
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: The driving ethos behind Katie's civil rights activism for non-humans. Since the story takes place in a setting where non-humans like centaurs, elves, etc. exist with humans, there are issues surrounding just which species gets to be considered "human" and given civil rights while others are treated as mere beasts. Katie comes from a family noted for its activism on behalf of intelligent nonhumans, which puts her in conflict with students tied to the conservative factions early on.
* WizardingSchool: Kimberly Magic Academy practices SocialDarwinism towards its students, with the student body [[AdultsAreUseless expected to solve problems without the intervention of the faculty]]. There actually is a reason for this: Kimberly is effectively a vocational school for Gnostic Hunters--elite battlemages who travel to other planets of the solar system to battle {{Alien Invasion}}s commanded by those planets' gods.
* WizardDuel: There's a dueling class, and the second book is focused on them.
* YouRemindMeOfX: Nanao reminds Oliver, Theodore, and Esmeralda of [[spoiler:Chloe Halford]]. This might even extend to her broom, which once belonged to [[spoiler:Chloe]].
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