Sword Arts Festival

The Sword Arts Festivals (剣武祭) is the collective name for a number of festivals held between Mage-Knight Academies within the three world powers of the League of Mage-Knights, the Holy Roman Empire, and the United Federation of America.

Overview
In essence, the Sword Arts Festivals is an annual competition held jointly between the Mage-Knight Academies within the three world powers to determine the strongest Student-Knight between the academies. The winner of the Festivals would be given the title of Sword King (or Sword Queen, if the victor is female). These tournaments are exclusively for Student-Knights, while younger Blazers have other tournaments aimed at them (such as the Rondo, the junior tournament of the Holy Roman Empire).

All Festivals follow the same format of a single elimination-type tournament, with one loss meaning elimination from the entire Festival. The participants are arranged into four blocks (Blocks A, B, C, and D), each block having their own matches. Once there is only one participant in each Block, these participants face another one of those who are left (A vs. B, C vs D). The two that are victorious will then face each other in the Finals. The winner of the finals is crowned the Sword King or Sword Queen.

All Festivals follow a three-year cycle between a solo tournament, a tag-team tournament, and a three-man tournament called a season. Each region has a different name for its different numbered tournaments. In order, the duo tournament is held in the summer of the first year, the trio tournament is held in the spring of the second year, and the solo tournament is held in the autumn of the third year. As a bonus, the international Sword Arts Festival is held in the winter of the third year.

However, besides the three territorial Sword Arts Festivals, there is one Sword Arts Festival held in the last week of the respective months in which the previous Sword Arts Festivals are held in. This Full Circle Star Sword Arts Festival ((全流動剣武祭), more commonly known as Eridani (エリダニ), is the true tournament, reserved only for the best contestants from the other Sword Arts Festivals and the deciding factor for the title of world's strongest Student-Knight. In terms of the Eridani, the solo tournament is called Shining Star Sword Arts Festival (光照星剣武祭), more commonly known as Polaris Festival (ポラリス・フェスティヴァ), the tag-team tournament is called Binary Star Sword Arts Festival (二進星剣武祭), more common known as Fornacis Festival (フォルナシス・フェスティヴァ), and the three-man tournament is called Trinary Star Sword Arts Festival (三進星剣武祭), more commonly known as Trianguli Festival (トライアングルムイ・フェスティヴァ).

Rules
All Sword Arts Festivals share the same basic rule and that is that Devices are to be employed in «Real Form». Because of the nature of the Festivals which focus on actual combat between participants, «Illusionary Form» is not allowed. For that reason, depending on the situation, there is always an apparent danger to life. Because of this, prevention steps are taken by both the teachers, staff members and related people present in the match arena to make sure such incidents do not occur. If a victor cannot be decided, it will be the job of the referee to stop the match at his or her own discretion. However, the absolute safety for all the students involved in the Festivals themselves is not guaranteed and neither the school nor the Festival Committees will be held accountable for the injuries or deaths that occur during the Festivals. The audience is also protected by several professional Blazers.

Altarum Lyrae Sword Arts Festival
The Altarum Lyrae Sword Arts Festival is the Sword Arts Festival held in the Holy Roman Empire.

Eridani Sword Arts Festival
The Eridani Sword Arts Festival is the Sword Arts Festival held after all three Sword Arts Festivals have concluded to determine the strongest Student-Knight in the world.

Pleiades Sword Arts Festival
The Pleiades Sword Arts Festival is the Sword Arts Festival held in the League of Mage-Knights.

Sagitarii Sword Arts Festival
The Sagitarii Sword Arts Festival is the Sword Arts Festival held in the United Federation of America.