The Dialect

When two mages duel, the victor will sometimes lose their current power in favor of the power of the other, and sometimes they won't. In 11XX, Asta the Omnipotent attempted to explain this phenomenon with The Dialect, a 'power ranking' of mages one through eighty-eight. When a mage of lower power defeats one of higher power, they will 'level up' and win the more powerful phage. If a mage of higher power defeats a lower one, they will keep the phage they already have.

The Astan Dialect was considered an immutable law of the universe until 15XX, when Ciara the Azure defeated Gaddius Blackheart and did not inherit his power, even though he was ranked higher on Asta's dialect.

In 1597 Amaterasu Kaminome created her own version of the dialect, not ranked by number but organized by lineages. Within these lineages the rankings are unchanging, but rankings between lineages are fluid and based on which host the phage currently resides inside.

Nihilists believe that after a duel, the winning phage decides independently whether or not to continue inhabiting its current host. They believe The Dialect is a meaningless attempt to impose order upon chaos.