Forum:Kazuto Kirigaya

"It hurts? This is nothing compared to the pain you've inflicted upon everyone I know: Asuna! Klein! Agil! Lisbeth! Leafa! Sinon! Silica! Mal!"

- Kazuto Kirigaya

Kirigaya Kazuto (桐ヶ谷 和人, Kirigaya Kazuto), born as Narusaka Kazuto (鳴坂 和人なるさか かずと, Narusaka Kazuto), and known as Kirito (キリト, Kirito) in « Sword Art Online » (SAO), « Alfheim Online » (ALO), « Gun Gale Online » (GGO), and « Project Alicization », is the leader of the Shadowkeepers and the main antagonist of Destiny 2: Paradox.

Overview
Kirito was chosen to be one of the one thousand beta testers for the closed beta of Sword Art Online, the first ever Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (VRMMORPG) for the Nervegear, and later joined the official version of the game. He thus became one of the 10,000 players who were trapped in Sword Art Online, where he remained a solo player for the majority of the game, willingly taking on the role of a Beater to reduce discrimination against other former beta testers, as well as actively taking part in Boss battles as one of the Clearers. Kirito temporarily became a member of the Moonlit Black Cats after helping them safely escape a dangerous dungeon, but returned to being a solo player when a fatal error resulted in the death of the other guild members. At some point in the game, Kirito became known as the « Black Swordsman » (黒の剣士, Kuro no Kenshi) due to his tendency to wear black clothing. Near the end of the game, Kirito joined the Knights of the Blood due to losing a wager with its leader, Heathcliff. Kirito eventually put an end to the game by defeating the final boss, thus clearing the game.

As Asuna and a small group of Sword Art Online survivors were not logged out from Sword Art Online in the aftermath of the incident, Kazuto began playing Alfheim Online as a Spriggan due to seeing an in-game screenshot of what resembled Asuna, and thus wanting to investigate the matter. After freeing the three hundred remaining captives, Kazuto continued playing Alfheim Online, under new management, with his old friends from Sword Art Online, as well as new friends from Alfheim Online.

Due to the request of Kikuoka Seijirou, Kazuto temporarily converted his Alfheim Online avatar to Gun Gale Online via The Seed to investigate a series of strange deaths, rumoured to be associated with a mysterious player, referring to himself as Death Gun. Thus, Kirito took part in the largest tournament in the game, the Bullet of Bullets, to attract the attention of the mysterious player.

In the aftermath of the incident, Kazuto returned with his avatar to Alfheim Online and continued playing it with his friends. Several months later, Kazuto was offered a part-time job to test a new Fulldive machine known as the Soul Translator, but unbeknownst to him, he was actually helping with a military project known as Project Alicization.

During the events of Paradox, Kazuto recruited Asuna and the members of the Shadowkeepers, including Ruby Hale, Totomaru, Eobard Thawne/Reverse-Flash, Malcolm Merlyn/Dark Archer, Damien Darhk, Tobias Whale, Samantha Arias's alter ego "Reign," Leopold Fitz's Framework counterpart/Boshnok, Anton Ivanov/Omega, Hiram Lodge, Morgana, Yzma's son Zevon, Fikrul, Uldren Sov, Djin/Numero Uno, Sasuke Uchiha, Phoenixaro Uchihamaki, and, eventually, Kaguya Narusaka and Hendrick Yor's daughter Mal in a diabolical encounter that not only killed Mal's friends, Commander Zavala, and the other Auradonians, but also turned Auradon into a living nightmare infected by various enemy factions, including Nightmares, Fallen Splicers, Scorn, Fallen, Hive, Vex, Cabal, Reborn, and Ghoulies.

Personality and Traits
Kirito is someone who is not good with words, as stated 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 cannot.

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 had 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, especially after the demise of the Moonlit Black Cats. He also comforts others who are scared or down such as Silica after she lost Pina. He claims to help a female player in SAO because she reminds him of his sister, whom he feels to have forced into kendo and feels guilty for that. These kinds 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 the Moonlit Black Cats had haunted him until his marriage with Asuna in Sword Art Online. Sachi's death, in particular, had a huge effect 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.

Kirito is a person with incredibly strong resolve who will do anything and everything in his power to accomplish something that is 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 the World Tree, 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 twice despite being annihilated the first time.

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.

However, in Paradox, Kirito is shown to be a bloodthirsty, psychotic sadist whose powers overwhelmed various people, including Emperor Calus, Toland, the Shattered, Zavala, The Drifter, and even Osiris. According to Asher Mir, Kazuto has been shown to be extremely arrogant both before and after his imprisonment in Sword Art Online. He is cynical, sarcastic, self-centered, anti-social, lacks empathy and seems to be taking great pleasure in insulting, belittling, pranking, scamming, trolling, and humiliating people for his own amusement. He states that he hates humanity, viewing people as "a complete write-off as a species" and believing them to be irredeemable. =List of appearances=
 * Destiny 2: Shadowkeep
 * Paradox
 * Season of the Black Swordsman
 * Season of Eternity

=References=