Cloud Gouger

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Cloud Gouger
Type	Enchanted Blade
Users	Ibuki Misaka Genichi Sojo Chihiro Rokuhira
Debut	Chapter 5 (mentioned) Chapter 8

Cloud Gouger (刳雲 (くれぐも) , Kuregumo) is one of the seven Enchanted Blades crafted by Kunishige Rokuhira. In the Seitei War, it was wielded by Ibuki Misaka. Three years ago, the Hishaku killed Kunishige and Ibuki and stole the original six Enchanted Blades, leaving Cloud Gouger as the only Enchanted Blade without a bearer. Cloud Gouger was later entrusted to Genichi Sojo by Yura in early October of the present year.

Overview

Cloud Gouger was forged in response to the Seitei War over 18 years ago, as a weapon to assist Japan in the war effort. Ibuki Misaka was chosen to wield the blade, soon after he and his brother Natsuki had arrived in Tokyo. After the war, Cloud Gouger was returned to Kunishige alongside the other Enchanted Blades and Kunishige went into hiding. Three years ago, the Hishaku launched two attacks on the Rokuhira residence and Ibuki's residence; the Hishaku Sorcerer, Uran and Hokuto's puppet killed Kunishige and stole the six Enchanted Blades, while Hokuto himself killed Ibuki.

Despite having Cloud Gouger as a usable Enchanted Blade with no one contracted to it, the Hishaku did not use it over the course of the next three years. In early October of the present year, Yura gave Sojo Cloud Gouger to assist in his Datenseki research. Sojo would later use Cloud Gouger in his encounters with Chihiro Rokuhira, and in their second battle Chihiro would defeat Sojo and bisect Cloud Gouger, taking the pieces.

Chihiro was able to form a contract with the lower half of Cloud Gouger, and used it alongside his wakizashi when he attacked the 208th Rakuzaichi to retrieve Enten and Shinuchi. Chihiro noticed the broken Cloud Gouger was steadily running out of energy, which it now had a limited supply of, and expended the last of it in one final Mei blast within the Storehouse so he could retrieve Enten and prepare to face Kyora Sazanami. The status of the remaining part of Cloud Gouger's blade is unknown.

Abilities

Cloud Gouger manifesting spirit energy in the form of cloud dragons.

As an Enchanted Blade, Cloud Gouger is a katana constructed from Datenseki. Cloud Gouger is activated by calling its name, which forms clouds on the edge of the blade. As with all Enchanted Blades, Cloud Gouger amplifies the spirit energy inside its bearer to such an extent that it can no longer be contained inside the bearer's body, and instead concentrates into a mass of spirit energy. Cloud Gouger manifests spirit energy in the form of clouds and cloud dragons.

During his battle against the Anti-Cloud Gouger Special Forces, Sojo was able to access the True Realm, altering Cloud Gouger's abilities from their normal state based on Sojo's desire for bloodshed.

Cloud Gouger has three abilities, which are accessed through spirit energy cloud dragons:

• Mei: Summons lightning, which can be directed as a bolt of lightning at enemies or used to 'cloak' its wielder.
• Yui: Forms a variable amount of ice.
• Kou: Generates water in a specific form, such as mist or simply liquid water.

Techniques

Unofficially named techniques are labelled by an asterisk (*).

Mei

Mei (鳴 (めい) , Mei): Cloud Gouger emits a cloud dragon that turns into a powerful lightning bolt which blasts its targets with tremendous force, enough to create holes in buildings and severely burn and electrocute those directly hit. Mei can be 'charged' through manifesting lightning around the blade for several seconds before unleashing the attack, with more time spent charging corresponding to a greater buildup of power. A fully charged Mei was so powerful that Sojo used it in an attempt to kill around a dozen civilians, and even after most of the attack was absorbed by Chihiro Rokuhira, the attack was powerful enough to gouge out a path in the road and cause considerable damage to Chihiro Rokuhira. Highly-charged Mei attacks disable the usage of Mei for an interval of 10-20 seconds; though this limit can decrease as the bearer of the blade increases their understanding of Cloud Gouger.

• Cloaked Mei*: An extension technique of Mei where the bearer cloaks themself with Mei instead of releasing it, enabling them to perform tremendously powerful bursts of speeds akin to a lightning bolt, superior to that of even Enten's Nishiki. Mei's lightning cloaking does not appear to injure the bearer. Even if the bearer loses contact with Cloud Gouger, the cloaking of Mei will remain in place around them, and if the bearer orders Cloud Gouger to activate Mei they can propel themself towards their lightning-emitting blade, as lightning is attracted to lightning. Sojo gained the ability to cloak with Mei as Cloud Gouger resonated with Sojo's internal desire to continue attacking and killing. Chihiro also utilised this cloaking during his raid on the Rakuzaichi. In the past, Misaka also made use of this ability.

• Mei: Shred (鳴 (めい) 千 (ちぎり) , Mei Chigiri): An extension technique of Mei utilised by Chihiro. Chihiro cloaks himself in black lightning rather than white, amplifying his speed and power to an even greater extent than normal cloaking. Using this technique, Chihiro was able to outspeed the reaction time of Yura, who had previously been able to keep up with normal cloaking.

Yui

Yui (結 (ゆい) , Yui): Cloud Gouger summons a cloud dragon that forms a variable amount of ice in the direction that the blade is pointing, which can be used to freeze targets in place, form small ice walls to catch projectiles or create huge columns of ice to overwhelm opponents, among other uses. The freezing of targets is almost instantaneous; upon being frozen, Norisaku Madoka did not realize he had been frozen and ended up inadvertently exploding the car he was in after Sojo had already left and dispelled the ice. When Chihiro used Yui, he noted it consumed spirit energy equal to 30% of a fully charged Mei.

Kou

Kou (降 (こう) , Kō): Cloud Gouger calls forth clouds that create an enormous amount of water in a specific form. The water can be released as a cloud of mist to disorient enemies and obscure the bearer, or simply released as liquid water, dousing the area around the user. Kou has been noted to have particular synergy with its fellow techniques. The generated water can conduct the electricity generated by Mei, increasing the lightning attack's area of effect. The water can also be used in conjunction with Yui to increase the amount of ice generated.

Gallery

Sojo with Cloud Gouger.

Norisaku is frozen by Yui.

Sojo clashes with Chihiro.

Enten vs. Cloud Gouger.

Sojo uses Yui.

Spirit energy manifested as a cloud dragon.

Sojo uses Mei.

Chihiro releases his previously absorbed Mei to attract Sojo's Mei to him.

Yui's ice in the form of spikes.

Sojo escapes using Kou.

Sojo uses Kou to amplify the range of Mei.

Sojo activates Cloud Gouger remotely.

Sojo cloaks himself in Mei.

Sojo defeats the Anti-Cloud Gouger Special Forces using high speed.

Chihiro breaks Cloud Gouger.

Chihiro activates Cloud Gouger.

Chihiro cloaks with Mei.

Chihiro tears through the Rakuzaichi guards.

Chihiro uses Mei: Shred

Chihiro severs Yura's arm.

Chihiro uses Yui.

Chihiro uses Mei.

Cloud Gouger desintegrates.

Ibuki Misaka wielding Cloud Gouger against Akemura Soga.

Etymology

The name Cloud Gouger (刳雲 (くれぐも) , Kuregumo) can be broken down as follows:

• 刳 (くれ) (Kure): Means "clear" or "to cut out".
• 雲 (ぐも) (Gumo): Means "cloud".

Trivia

• Natsuki Misaka's sorcery Lightning Menace greatly resembles Cloud Gouger's ability to cloak with Mei.