Sliding Moon Art utilizes the eight phases of the moon. Each phase is an art and has few techniques under it, but together they form a complete whole. The phases are;
New Moon Art
Waxing Crescent Art
First Quarter Art
Waxing Gibbous Art
Full Moon Art
Third Quarter Art
Waning Gibbous Art
Waning Crescent Art
Each represents both an art form and a simple movement—except for the Full Moon—but their deeper mastery can bring forth something akin to natural talent.
The art has three steps of mastery:
Step 1: Sword Mastery - The simple act of blade swings and using the techniques.
Step 2: Meaning Mastery - Each sword move must be performed with its meaning behind it. You are not merely swinging a sword; you are making a statement.
Step 3: Invocation Mastery - At this stage, Sliding Moon Art becomes a pseudo-talent that the user can tap into.
Eiran explained what he understood to her, and she nodded. "I'm impressed. You even included the elusive Step 3 in your explanation. It's as if you have the entire art as your Brand Skill!"
"I do have it!" Eiran beamed. "I'm awesome," he said, seeing how shocked she was.
Nyara sighed. "Your awesomeness is dazzling. I need you to focus well—no playful thoughts, just absolute concentration. Alright?"
"Alright!"
"Sliding Moon Art is one of the simplest arts in the world. Easy to start but difficult to master due to certain human shortcomings. It's also remarkable because you can even reach Step 3 with limited strength—it's one of the blade arts that doesn't require excessive physical power..."
"But I have to use my Strength Skill to employ it."
"Yes, your highness. I'll explain that as well!"
"The Sliding Moon minor arts are the phases of the moon. Each represents a sword move, simple and easy to perform. For example, the Waxing Crescent Art, otherwise known as Lunar Fang, involves drawing the blade, slashing, then sheathing it.
"At Sword Mastery, it's simply that action. But at Meaning Mastery, the sword becomes sudden, fast, and precise. You use it to cut through those weapons, and it never fails to slice them. The question is: was the sword sudden when you drew it, or was it merely fast?"
"It was just fast," Eiran said. In his fights, opponents had tried to avoid the sword.
"Then how can you make it sudden?" she asked.
"By being extremely fast!"
"As long as they know you will attack, it's no longer a surprise or sudden—it's just very fast. Of course, they're surprised by the speed." Nyara countered.
"So how can I make it sudden?"
"The answer lies in New Moon Meaning, which you never use. New Moon is the first art, and from it all other arts emerge. Waxing Crescent feels heavy because it lacks the New Moon."
Eiran grew thoughtful as the meaning of New Moon came to him.
"I don't understand!" Eiran muttered, and Nyara smiled. "The New Moon cannot be seen. Traditionalists look for it with naked eyes, but it remains invisible. Then suddenly Waxing Crescent appears. Even if they expect it to come, the New Moon might mislead them about the angle of approach. Using that meaning makes your blade become faster and lighter!"
'Slick!'
Eiran's hand flickered—sword drawn and sheathed in a flash.
"Perfect!" Nyara's voice rang out. "What makes Sliding Moon both easy and difficult is that it requires delicate and precise understanding of both Sword Mastery and Meaning Mastery. Some fail at the first, others at the second. Most grasp both concepts but cannot link them together.
"It's not about knowing the meaning and mastering the moves. As you stand, your intent must be invisible like the New Moon phase. Your mindset, heart, and emotions must align with that phase. Then, no matter how quickly you transition to Waxing Crescent, your mindset, heart, and emotions should shift seamlessly with that phase—not remain stuck at New Moon.
"This seamless shifting of the Sliding Moon art's variables causes most practitioners to fail. But for those gifted with this ability, they can master the art in a remarkably short time."
Eiran fell silent, contemplative. Even he hadn't performed exactly what she described. There were discrepancies between his movement, thoughts, and heart.
"It is difficult" Eiran pouted
"Haha!" She chuckled. "And you just reached the level that took me two months to achieve!"
Eiran looked at her. "You've mastered it!" She sighed and shook her head. "I'm at Step 2. Invocation Mastery requires super dedication, but I have many other pursuits, so I abandoned it."
"What exactly is Invocation?" Eiran asked.
"It involves many things: building connections with your sword, connecting your talent with the art, ritualistic performance, evoking the actual moon, and creating an Inner Moon!"
"That sounds like the Invoke talent category!"
"Yes. The creator was an Invoker of Moon Power. One of his greatest creations is Sliding Moon. But even he didn't master it because he lacked the proper constitution. Not to mention, Sliding Moon has hidden requirements.
"First, if you begin, you must master it within two years, maximum five. The longer the delay, the harder it becomes and the less power it yields.
"I wanted to finish it before the deadline. Second, the younger you are, the better."
Eiran closed his eyes, emptying his mind of all thought, then opened them. The world seemed not to exist.
He invoked New Moon and its meaning: silent, patient, zero intent but ready to become intentional. His heartbeat slowed, his body became still as his breathing followed a hidden pattern.
At the edge of his consciousness, Waxing Crescent waited with its meaning. Eiran pushed it aside and remained in the New Moon.
-
Eiran breathed deeply, his hand trembling as exhaustion overtook him and he collapsed onto his butt. Nyara was nowhere to be seen.
"I was smart enough to move away!" she said in shock as she reappeared.
"What happened?" Eiran asked.
"You used the ultimate technique between New Moon and Waxing Crescent: Silent Edge." She said with shock, "So... it's true that this sword is too fast for even the user to comprehend."
"I only feel tired now, and my hand!" Eiran examined it. No—it wasn't just his hand; his entire body was shaking.
"I didn't see anything either. Only a wind that rose slightly a second after your body trembled." She sat beside Eiran, smiling as she explained, "I suspected this art suited you. Some say it's destiny whether one will master it."
She took a deep breath. "You see this move you just performed?"
"Yes!" Eiran's voice still trembled.
"If you replicate it one hundred times, you'll carve its meaning into your mind. If you replicate the others with similar perfection one hundred times, you'll grasp both step 1 and step 2."
She sighed. "If we weren't here, we could have practiced until you were ready!"
Eiran shook his head. That was too fast. Silent Edge was terrifying—he needed to digest just this move before proceeding.
Eiran closed his eyes and slowly rewound what he had done. His eyes had been open, but the action had passed beyond his perception. It felt as if he had simply stood focused, then collapsed from exhaustion. There was no in-between.
He slowed everything continuously until his head began to ache. His talent energy seemed forced to keep up with his attempts to remember, and finally he glimpsed it.
Though blurred even in slow rewind, he captured the shift of his body and blood flow. He focused on the blood and demanded more information.
Thirty minutes later, he collapsed onto his back—eyes red, face bulging with veins and flushed. He was exhausted and hungry.
Nyara poured water on his head, and the coolness helped him recover. She pulled him into her lap, feeding and giving him water.
"I see it..." he whispered faintly. "It's beautiful—perfect synchrony beyond description. It uses no talent energy, just pure physical prowess pushed to its zenith."
Nyara listened quietly.
"The brain commands the body, but the body also commands the brain. It works both ways. In this case, the body had rehearsed the move and kept telling the brain, 'I need an easier way.'''
Eiran sat up excitedly as he explained to Nyara, "Us picturing the New Moon and its meaning was like the brain trying to command the entire body toward one goal. Then, the moment we shifted to Waxing Crescent, the body and brain exchanged information countless times until they found perfect alignment of muscles, bones, even energy consumption—not talent energy...
"And... and then my hand moved. The calculations covered even the hand's trajectory, finding a path with absolutely no air resistance. Moving in such a way that the air itself seemed to push the hand forward..."
Eiran grew confused at this point. He perfectly grasped the internal mechanics, but the external elements became puzzling. Why wouldn't air disturb the movement? His hand definitely wasn't obstructed—he would have felt it cutting through the air.
It was as if air didn't exist as his hand moved.
"Magnificent," Nyara said. "It's an honor to be your chamberlain. I can't wait to see how this art dances at your command."