Kirito

Kirito
The Black Swordsman
Personal Info
Name	Kazuto Kirigaya
Kanji	桐ヶ谷和人
Romanji	Kirigaya Kazuto
Birthday	October 7, 2008
Age	14 (Beginning Aincrad arc) 16 (End of Aincrad arc, Fairy Dance arc)
Gender	Male
Height	172 cm
Weight	59 kg
Eyes	Black
Hair	Black
Place of Residence	Kawagoe City
Occupation	Middle school student (Aincrad arc) High school student
Family	Kirigaya Suguha (Cousin, Stepsister) Yuuki Asuna (Girlfriend, In-game wife) Yui (In-game daughter) Kirigaya Midori (Aunt, Stepmother) Kirigaya Minetaka (Uncle-in-Law, Stepfather)
Player Profile
Display Name	Kirito
Kanji	キリト
Romanji	Kirito
Epithet	The Black Swordsman The Twin Blade Swordsman Beater
VRMMORPGs Played	Sword Art Online Alfheim Online Gun Gales Online
Occupation	Beater
Affiliation	Knights of the Blood (SAO)
Previous Affiliation	Former solo player (SAO) Former member of the Moonlit Black Cats (SAO)
Partner	Asuna Yuuki
Base of Operations	Galzam
Status	Active
Skills
Primary Skill	One-handed Sword
Unique Skill	Dual Blades
Unique Weapon	Elucidator

Kirito (キリト, Kirito) is the main character of the Sword Art Online light novel, as well as the manga and anime. His name, Kirito, was taken from his real name Kirigaya Kazuto (桐ヶ谷和人, Kirigaya Kazuto?). "Kiri--" from Kirigaya and "----to" from Kazuto. He was chosen as one of the 1,000 beta testers for the Closed Beta of «Sword Art Online», the first ever VRMMORPG for the NerveGear.

Appearance

During the beginning of the game and during the beta-testing phase, Kirito's avatar had the appearance of a ridiculously handsome protagonist from some fantasy animation, looking older than he actually was. In the light novel, it was stated that he (and probably Klein, too) had set his in-game height equal to that of his height in the real world to prevent the extra height from hindering his movements. 

In the full version of the game, a few moments after Kayaba Akihiko informed the players that they were given a gift from him, which turned out to be a «Hand Mirror», all player avatars were changed to reflect their real life appearances. After this change, Kirito's SAO avatar had slightly long but neat black hair and black eyes. His delicate face showed no trace of masculinity, allowing people to easily mistake him for a girl.

After the initial stages, he becomes well known in SAO as the «Black Swordsman» due to his tendency to wear black clothing. His clothes in Sword Art Online consisted of black pants with a black belt that had a large silver buckle, a black V-necked shirt that was worn underneath a black trench-coat with gray lining going down the sleeves and black boots with silver plates to protect his shins. He has a silver plate worn on his coat, which was on his left side, and a pair of black fingerless gloves. He wears a strap, that goes over his right shoulder and under it to wrap around his left side, that holds at first just his Elucidator and then his Dark Repulser as well. He uses two swords after his Sword Skill «Dual Blades» is revealed, the black «Elucidator» and the white «Dark Repulser». He later donned the red and white uniform of the Knights of the Blood after being defeated by its leader Heathcliff in a public duel and being forced to join his guild.

In the real world he has a tendency to gravitate towards dark colored clothes.

Personality

Kirito is someone who is not good with words, as said by Klein, and can be quite direct. This is due to him not having many friends and closing others off, because of his love for computers. As such, he can come off as a rude person to others, such as Lisbeth and Sinon. Sometimes, he actually seems to enjoy angering and teasing people as well. Also, from time to time, Kirito can be quite overconfident thinking he can do things others can not.

He is almost always a calm and collected character, rarely showing any signs of distress. When Kayaba Akihiko appeared in SAO and announced that it has become a Death Game, Kirito showed only a slight reaction and was able to quickly accept the new conditions of the game, while many others panicked. He has shown different moods throughout the series; at times being rather cheerful, while being gloomy at others. When in a battle, he becomes incredibly fierce and aggressive. Sometimes, his fierceness is up to the point where he loses control of himself and is even unable to recall what he had done.

However, Kirito is actually a kind person who is just misunderstood. Despite the general population opinion towards Beta Testers in SAO, he refused to abandon another player in trouble. This is only strengthened after the Moonlit Black Cats's demise. He also comforts others who are scared or down such as Silica after she lost Pina. He claims to help some female players in SAO because they remind him of his sister, who he feels to have forced into kendo and feels guilty for that. These kind of acts have earned him respect and affection from many girls. Kirito, unlike usual male heroes, is not very dense as he was able to tell that Lisbeth was going to confess to him, before Asuna interrupted them.

Kirito is also a very emotional person and lets his emotions control him from time to time. The deaths of Sachi and Moonlit Black Cats had haunted him until his marriage with Asuna. Sachi's death in particular had a huge affect on his personality, and motives; making him very distant from others for a while. This worries his friends and allies as Kirito is someone who would let guilt ruin his life, if not comforted. Kirito temporarily loses his will to live when Asuna's character was killed by Heathcliff. He also tries to hide his abilities, not wanting unneeded attention.

A person with incredibly strong resolve, Kirito will do anything and everything in his power to accomplish something that's important to him, without any hesitation. When Asuna was being held in ALfheim, Kirito was bound and determined to set her free and, when Yui confirmed that she detected Asuna being at the top of Yggdrasil, he immediately tried to fly up to the tree, which had already been found to be an impossible task, and tried to fight his way to the top by himself.

After escaping SAO, Kirito attempts to repair his relationship with Suguha, his cousin. This shows Kirito is now attempting to make up for his past mistake of ignoring her, showing a sense of maturity. Kirito, later in the series, is shown to be a calm and mature player who can be teasing as well (something that annoys Sinon to no end, her being his main target).

Background

Born on October 7, 2008, Kirigaya Kazuto was adopted by his aunt and uncle a year after his birth when his biological parents died in an accident. Raised by his foster parents as a son, he originally trained with his cousin in the neighborhood kendo dojo under their grandfather's tutelage. Due to his aunt's influence as an editor for a computer systems magazine, Kazuto fell in love with computers and dropped kendo after two years.

Kazuto has immense skill as a programmer, managing to build a computer from parts during elementary school, finding his erased records in the national registry at the age of ten, as well as managing to stop the SAO server from deleting Yui by converting her program into an object and storing her into his Nerve Gear as environmental data.

He currently lives at Kawagoe City in the Saitama prefecture with his family, adopted by his aunt and uncle after his parents died, though his uncle is often not around. He was raised as their son with his cousin as his sister. He was originally trained in kendo by his grandfather but had little interest in it, and as a result his sister began to cover for him.

Equipment and Items

• Main Equipment:
  • 「Anneal Blade」 (One Handed Straight Sword - «Secret Medicine of the Forest» Quest's reward)
  • 「Queen's Knightsword」 (One Handed Straight Sword - Dark Elf Queen's 9th floor Quest's reward)
  • 「Elucidator」 (One Handed Straight Sword - 50th Floor Boss drop)
  • 「Dark Repulser」 (One Handed Straight Sword - Player-made by Lisbeth)
  • 「Coat of Midnight」 (Leather Coat - 1st Floor Boss drop) - First black coat
  • 「Blackwyrm Coat」 (Leather Coat - Player-made by Ashley) - Last black coat
  • 「Throwing Pick」 a type of weapon that is small, easily concealed.

Abilities

Sword Art Online (Floor 75)

• Level: 96
• HP: 18500

Skills

SKILL SLOTS
One Handed Sword	Dual Blades	Blade Throwing	Parry	Forward Healing
Mastered	Mastered	967 / 1000	Mastered	Mastered
Searching	Tracking	Hiding	Night Vision	Extended Weight Limit
Mastered	963 / 1000	Mastered	908 / 1000	949 / 1000
Sprint	Fishing
870 / 1000	604 / 1000

Buffs

• Striker Stance - This stance is a permanent buff that can be cancelled and used at will. It increases Kirito's attack rate, attack damage, critical damage, critical hit rate and block break by 75%. He loses 80% defense, block capability, and impact resistance.
• Sharpen - Kirito ups his attack and attack speed by 50% for 20 seconds. Has a 5 minute cooldown.
• Burst Fire - A buff that increases the damage of his Dual Blades skills for 10 seconds. Has a 30 minute cooldown.
• Breather - A buff that triggers after the use of a Dual Blades sword skill with more than 10 moves. Restores 5% health. Triggers again in 3 minutes.
• Danger's Messenger - A skill that requires Striker's Stance. This skill can only be activated every 60 seconds and lasts as long as an activated sword skill. It only works when Kirito sprints at the foe. As soon as he gets into striking distance, the buff activates. It gives him an additional 10% pierce and 35% attack power. For every strike he throws and that is parried, he gains 3 additional yards that he can sprint to at an additional 15% movement speed. It counts whatever skill Kirito uses. A five move skill fives 15 yards of running. These yards allow Kirito to sprint to another target. He can attack whoever he wants with the range he gets.

One Handed Straight Sword

• Vertical - (1-hit strike) A simple sword skill slashing vertically.
• Horizontal - (1-hit strike) A simple sword skill slashing horizontally.
• Uppercut - (1-hit strike) A simple sword skill delivering an uppercut.
• Rage Spike - (1-hit strike) A basic, weak skill that leaps at the enemy and follows with an upward strike.
• Sonic Leap - (1-hit strike) A charge-type sword skill that dashes toward the enemy to deal a downward strike.
• Vorpal Strike - (1-hit strike) A heavy one-handed sword skill with a reach that is double the length of the blade and has high attack power. It has a long cool-down.
• Vertical Arc - (2-hit combo) A simple sword skill creating a 'V' shape trajectory.
• Sharp Nail - (2-hit combo) A left and a right swings that target the opponent's weapon, with a chance of breaking the weapon.
• Bent Steel – Stabs rapidly three times at the opponent's weapon. Has an increased chance of breaking the weapon.
• Sharp Nail - (3-hit combo) A sword skill that attacks with diagonal and horizontal slashes.
• Savage Fulcrum - (3-hit combo) A high level sword skill that traces the number "4" in the air.
• Horizontal Square - (4-hit combo) A mid-level sword skill tracing the shape of a rhombus.
• Vertical Square - (4-hit combo) A mid-level sword skill tracing the shape of a square.
• Howling Octave - (8-hit combo) Five high-speed continuous thrusts then cut downward, upward, before another full force upward cut.

Martial Arts (Extra)

• Embracer – (1-hit strike) An unarmed skill that pierces the enemy with the fingers.
• Flash Hit - (1-hit strike) A quick jab to the face
• Stunning Fist - (1-hit strike) Jabs right fist into gut of opponent. Induces knockback effect and stuns opponent for one second. Has 15 second cooldown.
• Meteor Break - (7-hit combo) A high level sword skill that utilizes One Handed Sword and Martial Arts skills.

Dual Blades

• Vorpal Pass - (1-hit strike) A heavy hitting strike that pushes Kirito pass at opponent as he lunges with one sword in a reverse grip.
• Intercepting Blade - (1-hit strike) Slides in at a slant while parrying the opponent's strike one with one blade and slashing at the side with the other. Very fast skill.
• Earth Shatter - (1-hit strike) Aerial move that impacts the ground and sends forth two waves of energy that glides across the ground five feet ahead from impact. Waves of energy deal half damage from impact damage. Massive impact damage but needs a specific target and dives straight down at it.
• X-Defense - (1-hit block) A skill that blocks one attack by crossing his swords. Cuts damage by 50%.
• Double Circular - (2-hit combo) - A dash-type skill that swiftly attacks with the right and left sword consecutively.
• X-Counter - (2-hit combo) A skill that blocks lightly with two swords and and then opens up to slash twice.
• Close Shank - (2-hit combo) Blocks two attacks with both swords to step close and then reverses grip on sword to stab twice in the chest.
• Triple Spinning Counter - (3-hit combo) Kirito parries twice and spins on the last hit to slash at the enemy's chest. Very heavy damage if done successfully.
• Sideways Glance - (3-hit combo) Kirito slides to the enemy's side, slashing twice and kicking off the ground to slash as he jumps away.
• Spinning Wheel - (4-hit combo) A skill that Kirito uses to retreat backwards by spinning with his swords to slash vertically. The attacks slice in the same motion as a wheel.
• Double Parry - (5-parries) A skill that parries five attacks using both swords.
• Singular Parries - (7-parries) Fast single parries that uses attack to defend.
• Piercing Pressure - (8-hit combo) A high-class dual blades skill. Kirito dashes forwards with two attacks from the right and left sword. He then performs two more left and right slashes. Two x-slashes are performed with both weapons, counting for one move each. On the second x-slash, Kirito rears back to perform a double stab. This attack is the purpose of the skill. It has high damage and an additional pierce to defense. Finally, Kirito reversed the grip on his two swords and slashes in an x outwards.
• Friction Slashes(9-hit combo) - High-class dual blades skill. Kirito launches himself forwards to lunge with both swords one a split second after the other. Then yanks the two swords apart in an outwards x-slash. Follows up with another x-slash before unloading a barrage of slanted slashes down across the body. Finishes off with a rising slash from a back spin.
• Sparking Burst (10-hit combo) - High-class speed dual blades skill. Begins with a rushing downwards slash and transitions to un upward cleave. The skill then goes to lay waste to the foe. Blindingly fast attacks that creates a shower of sparks on impact with another sword. Sparks are bright and blurs vision.
• Nuclear Break (11-hit combo) - High-class damage dual blades skill. Moves are not as fast but hit hard. Kirito takes slow deliberate steps while wailing away at the opponent. Each strikes induces a strong Knockback along with lowering item durability by 5% each slash.
• Weapon Eradication (12-hit combo) - High-class dual blades skill. Shoots out two rapid slashes to make the enemy raise their weapon. Kirito then goes to all out attack the foe's weapon, targeting the blade and the area near the hilt. As he does so, he leans forwards with his shoulder to push the foe away while he hacks. Durability of enemy's weapon decreases by 9% each strike. Won't break weapons that can't be broken.
• Intercepting Drive (14-hit combo) - High-class dual blades skill. Slides in to parry the opponent's first strike. The other sword is already coming up to drive into the foe's stomach. The next sword slash targets at the legs. At the same time, Kirito is still driving forwards to attack. Then he starts to rapidly unleash a flurry of attacks within sword range.
• Starburst Stream - (16-hit combo) - A high-class dual-blades sword skill.
• The Eclipse - (27-hit combo) - The second highest level dual-blades sword skill.
• Orbital Comet - (36-hit combo) Kirito's ultimate skill that shows that he is the Attack Pillar. Strikes have high speed relative to the top players and high damage. They also consist of rising slashes followed by downwards ones.