Blade Steal

“

Swordsmanship describes its own knowledge, style describes its own history, and breathing describes its own principle. If one followed the branches and leaves of a sword style and arrived down at the root, then it wouldn't be hard to grasp that style's techniques and combinations, or its approach in facing different situations. This was what Ikki was saying.

”

—The description of Blade Steal

Blade Steal
Ikki's Blade Steal.
Kana	模倣剣技(ブレード・スチール)
Romaji	Burēdo Suchīru
Information
Type	Martial Art
Wielder	Ikki Kurogane

Blade Steal (模倣剣技(ブレード・スチール), Mohō Kengi(Burēdo Suchīru)) is the martial art technique Ikki Kurogane created and derived from his Perfect Vision.

Description

Imperial Sword Style being copied.

Blade Steal is a technique that is derived from his Perfect Vision, where Ikki uses his incredible insight to analyze and steal another opponent's swordsmanship or technique through tracing them back down to their roots. He can grasp most forms in a couple of minutes to discover their imperfections and seconds to create a far more superior version of it, which he applies to his swordsmanship. The true strength of Blade Steal comes when he was able to trace down the roots of the Ayatsuji Ittou-ryuu through practicing with Ayase Ayatsuji then reproduced their secret technique, Ten'i Muhou despite not seeing her perform it once.

It was used for the first time against Stella Vermillion after "stealing" her Imperial Sword Style, taking two minutes to steal it and thirty seconds to surpass it. This could be used on techniques that aren't swordsmanship based as first shown after seeing Touka Toudou using Trackless Step.

Weaknesses

Although, Blade Steal is an effective technique, which grants him an advantage against Blazers who uses martial arts, it takes him time to analyze, steal, and perfect martial arts that has been honed to an incredible extent. This was first shown as it took him two minutes to seal and thirty seconds to perfect Stella's Imperial Sword Style due to the effort she put into mastering it.

It was further elaborated as he couldn't accomplish the same feat after stealing Edelweiss' Twin Wings Style, who is hailed as the World's Strongest Swordsman in the World due to the vast difference between their skills as Ikki still produced too much noise using it. However, instead of mimicking Edelweiss, he instead started adapting it to match his swordsmanship.

Known Copied Styles and Techniques

• Kyokujitsu Isshin-ryuu: Ouma Kurogane
• Yagyū Shinkage-ryū (Mutou Dori)
• Yuuri's Swordsmanship: Yuuri Oreki
• Imperial Sword Style: Stella Vermillion
• Ayatsuji Ittou-ryuu (Ten'i Muhou): Ayase Ayatsuji
• Trackless Step: Touka Toudou
• Twin Wings Style: Edelweiss

Trivia

• Ikki is mentioned having learned 126 sword styles in total as revealed in Light Novel Volume Zero.
• Ten'i Muhou and the Twin Wings Style are two techniques that Ikki hasn't made into superior versions of; the former hasn't been shown since then, and the latter was adapted to better suit him.