Spacequakes (空間震, Kuukanshin?) are a phenomenon created by the arrival of Spirits.
Summary
Spirits normally reside in the Neighboring World, but their arrival in this world causes a dimensional rupture. Spacequakes are similar to explosions, erasing everything in their range without a trace and leaving a crater behind. Their size can vary greatly depending on the Spirit. At their smallest, they can create a crater only a few meters in diameter. The first and largest known Spacequake accompanying the birth of the First Spirit, the Eurasian Sky Disaster (ユーラシア大空災, Eurasia Daikuusai?), destroyed a large portion of Eurasian continent (including portions of the Soviet Union, China, and Mongolia) and took 150 million lives in the process. Six months after the first incident, this phenomenon reoccurred in every continent, the north pole, the ocean, and islands, albeit on a much smaller scale. Shido estimates that there were around 50 recorded Spacequakes during this time period.[1]
For Japan, this occurrence was named the South Kanto Sky Disaster (南関東大空災, Nankanto Daikuusai?), causing a sphere of scorched earth to materialize over a zone south of Tokyo and north of Kanagawa prefecture. The subsequent destruction would cause the area to rebuild with technology that could withstand Spacequakes, which then led to the creation of underground shelters to protect the populace. After the South Kanto Sky Disaster, the area was spared from Spacequakes for an extended period of time. However, 25 years later, the phenomenon would make a repeated significant resurgence in Tengu City, Japan.[2]
Influence
While the existence of Spirits is kept top secret from the general public, the Spacequakes they cause are public knowledge and can be detected prior to a Spirit's arrival. Due to this, Spacequake alarms have been set up so that people can evacuate to underground shelters when an approaching Spacequake is sensed. Spacequakes are considered the primary threat caused by Spirits, although in some cases it's unintentional from the Spirit's part. When Tohka learned that her arrival in this world caused a huge amount of destruction, she felt incredibly guilty that her very existence brought ruin to the world, even sympathizing with the AST's attempts to eliminate her.
Kurumi, Kotori, and Miku have specficially displayed the ability to create Spacequakes at will. According to Kotori, a Spacequake can be neutralized if two Spacequakes of the same intensity clash at the same time.[3] As shown through Tohka's arrival prior to her date with Shido, there are also rare cases of a Spirit appearing without causing a Spacequake, which is considered a silent manifestation. Reine speculates that Natsumi had a particularly high occurrence of silent manifestations, which she attributes to Natsumi's curiosity about human society.[4]
While Wizards seek to stop Spacequakes by attempting to kill the Spirits, Ratatoskr seeks to peacefully resolve the Spacequakes by having Shido seal them. After Mio's death, the world experienced a year without any Spacequakes. However, that peace was short-lived as Beast made its appearance known through summoning a Spacequake. After Beast returned back to her own world, presumably the hard-earned peace also resumed.
List of Spacequake Ranks
Each Spirit has an individual rank given depending on the severity of damage caused by their Spacequake.
| Spirit | Rank |
|---|---|
| Mio Takamiya | SSS-rank |
| Origami Tobiichi | AA-rank |
| Nia Honjo | C-rank |
| Kurumi Tokisaki | C-rank |
| Yoshino Himekawa | C-rank |
| Kotori Itsuka | B-rank |
| Mukuro Hoshimiya | AAA-rank |
| Natsumi Kyouno | C-rank |
| Yamai Sisters | AA-rank |
| Miku Izayoi | B-rank |
| Tohka Yatogami | B-rank |
| Tenka | A-rank |
| Inverse Origami | AAA-rank |
| Nibelcole | C-rank |
| Yamai Kazamachi | S-rank |
| Beast | SS-rank |
| Rinne Sonogami | S-rank |
| Rio Sonogami | A-rank |
Trivia
- In the anime, the first Spacequake alarm has small buildings, trains and the like retracting into the ground, which is a reference to a similar scene in Neon Genesis Evangelion.
- The visual design of a Spacequake in the anime bears a striking resemblance to a Subspace Bomb from Super Smash Bros Brawl.
- In the Light Novel, the phenomenon of the Spacequake is depicted as a blinding light followed by an earsplitting explosion. [5]