◆  System & Controls (S Equipment)

◆  System & Controls (Common to Both Equipment Types)

◆  Assault Shoot

Hitting a medium or larger enemy with a shot or laser fired from directly in front of your character performs a lock-on.
With an enemy locked on, pressing the Assault Shoot button (or while in Auto Assault mode) fires the auto-homing Assault Shoot. During an Assault attack, the enemy is not destroyed until the hit completes. Using this timing to deal more than the enemy's durability causes an Overkill, greatly raising the coins produced, the Delayed gauge, the score, and more, turning the game in your favor.
You can lock on to as many enemies at once as the max lock count shown in your stats, and Assault Shoot can be fired at multiple targets simultaneously. However, the 2nd, 3rd, and following shots become weaker. Destroying several enemies together gives a "Multi Kill" bonus to the combo bonus value.

◆  Blade & Raid

When the Blade gauge at the bottom-center is charged to a certain amount, you can perform Blade attacks. When available, the gauge color brightens and "BLADE LV?" is shown in the bottom-right info. The gauge amount required varies by character and level.
Pressing the Blade button while the gauge is charged performs a Blade attack. Pressing the Blade button again during a Blade attack chains up to 3 stages of consecutive Blade attacks.
While a Blade attack is hitting an enemy, the enemy is not destroyed, causing an Overkill. Combining it with Assault Shoot produces even higher overkill damage. "Hold back → Assault Shoot → Blade attack" is the most basic overkill combo.
Locking on to a large enemy plays a different lock sound (beep-beep-beep). If you have at least 1 stage of Blade gauge while locked on to a large enemy, pressing the Blade button triggers a Raid.
The Raid is an invulnerable cut-in attack; the sequence of approach → attack → retreat is performed automatically. 3 stages of Blade attack are performed regardless of remaining gauge, and any shortfall goes negative, turning the gauge red. In that case you cannot perform Blade attacks until the gauge recovers.

◆  Delayed Shift

Delayed Shift can be activated when the topmost of the 3 gauges at the top-left (the Delayed Shift gauge) is 50% or higher. When available, the gauge turns blue and "DELAYD OK" is shown in the bottom-right info.
Activating Delayed Shift raises your attack power and slows enemy bullets. However, the number of bullets itself increases, and medium-enemy reinforcements begin to appear. Reinforcements appear more readily the higher up the screen and the further the stage progresses.
While Delayed Shift is active, destroying an enemy erases the bullets it fired and converts them into jewel items. Collecting jewel items raises the middle gauge at the top-left (the Counter Shift gauge), enabling a Counter Shift when you cancel Delayed Shift. The Counter Shift's strength changes through 3 levels by gauge amount, with the level shown at the bottom-right. Here it shows "COUNTER LV2", so a level-2 Counter Shift can be triggered.
The moment Delayed Shift is cancelled and a Counter Shift occurs. The Counter Shift spreads out concentrically from your character; the enemy bullets it touches become counters that turn into attacks against enemies while also generating jewel items. Delayed Shift can be cancelled at any time.

◆  Ethereal Shift

Ethereal Shift can be activated when the gauge at the lower-left of the screen (the Ethereal Shift gauge) is 50% or higher. When available, the gauge brightens and "ETHEREAL OK" is shown in the bottom-right info. However, for the 10 seconds right after a boss fight begins or right after a form change, Ethereal Shift cannot be triggered (except just before destroying the boss or a form change).
During Ethereal Shift, Assault Shoot is fired continuously (around 8 per second) and Blade attacks can be unleashed without limit. Also, if you have bomb items remaining, being hit consumes a bomb item to automatically avoid the hit. However, as with Delayed Shift, enemy reinforcements appear during Ethereal Shift.

◆  Counter Burst

If you deplete a boss's life while Ethereal Shift is active during a boss fight, you enter Counter Burst mode (this does not occur in mid-boss fights).
When you enter Counter Burst, the whole screen turns red. This mode is a pure bonus stage; even if you are hit, there is no penalty — you simply move to the next form (though the Ethereal Shift gauge becomes zero).
As time passes the enemy's attacks grow fiercer, but the longer you hold out, the more the boss bonus rises and the more overkill damage you can earn. When the Ethereal Shift gauge reaches zero, Counter Burst ends and you move to the next form.