Blade (XC3)

Blades are a form of weapon in Xenoblade Chronicles 3. Despite being named as if they are some kind of sword, they can take a wide range of forms - blunt weapons, guns, and even more outlandish forms that are not visibly weapons at all.

Characteristics
Almost every in Aionios is capable of summoning a Blade. It is implied this is connected to their Iris in some fashion. A summoned Blade appears in the user's hands almost instantly and can be wielded like any other weapon. De-summoning a Blade is just as quick, enough so that someone can put away their Blade, quickly reposition themselves, and take it back out in one smooth motion. Blades can be de-summoned even when not held, so they can be almost instantly recalled to the owner's hand if dropped or thrown.

People from Keves generally have black-colored Blades with blue details, while those from Agnus have white Blades with yellow-green details, and City Blades have neutral colours with orange details. All Keves and Agnus Blades have a round element used to show the user's Flame Clock; for Ouroboros, it shows a purple Ouroboros symbol instead. Few Moebius are shown to wield Blades; when they do, they have a similar appearance to a Moebius' body, a chaotic mess of purple and red details.

It is said that only a kill with a Blade allows a Flame Clock to take its life, so fighters using Levnises or other non-Blade weapons need to take care to only defeat and not kill their enemies.

A small minority of people are unable to summon a Blade, leaving them unable to fight like a normal person; Nikol is the only known example. It is unheard of to successfully prevent someone from being able to summon their Blade, but it is possible for certain Moebius to do so.

Further details of Blades are oddly contradictory as presented by the game:
 * It is strongly implied that people from Keves and Agnus cannot change their Blade, being stuck with the same one their whole life, though it might change for a different incarnation of the same person. This is further strenghened as Ouroboros gain the ability to use the Blades of others, naturally learning their techniques with ease in the process. However, this is contradicted by Noah being able to change the nature of his Blade when he decides to use it in conjunction with Lucky Seven, changing it from a typical sword to a fancier sheath-like sword, which can then also transform into a gauntlet.
 * The origin of Blades is inconsistent. In one sense, Blades are entirely summoned from nowhere - Ouroboros can create as many copies of someone's Blade as there are Ouroboros, and a destroyed Blade can be re-summoned good as new. But in another sense, Blades are fundamentally real objects that are merely stored away for safekeeping - they can be constructed from scratch, given from one person to another, or be taken out, upgraded, and put away with those upgrades remaining permanent.

Trivia

 * Nikol and are the only known characters to have crafted their own weapons instead of using a Blade, though for very different reasons.