Forum:The Black Swordsman (Renovated)

"Guardian, is it? I've heard of your so-called legendary accomplishments. Sending Oryx back into the Ascendant Plane, destroying SIVA, and so much more… But that ends here. No matter what you do, how hard you try, you'll always fall. Even if you get back up, try to rise against the threat… this one will be too much for even you."

- Kirito, introducing himself to The Guardian.

The Black Swordsman (alias, original name Kazuto Narusaka), also known as Kirito, the Shadow Emperor, is the partner and husband of The White Angel, the father of Yui, Tatsuyi Kirigaya, and Yuji, and the Darkness-affiliated doppelgänger of The Star King.

Prior to the events of Destiny, he was chosen as one of 1,000 beta testers for a new state-of-the-art virtual reality MMORPG called Sword Art Online, a game that he and Asuna completed on November 7th, 2024. 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, he fell in love with computers and dropped kendo after two years of training. He 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.

First reintroduced to humanity as an a-life program once in service to Rasputin, designed and modeled upon an ancient Japanese military program known as A.L.I.C.E., for the development of better weapons and defense protocols for the betterment of humanity during the Golden Age, he would become corrupted by the Black Fleet during the First Collapse and go rogue, losing all trace of his former identity and reverting to what he knew: killing or be killed.

He went dormant throughout the majority of the Dark and City ages until the Black Fleet reawakened him in preparation for their assault, restoring his memories and abilities at full capacity and reuniting him with his partner in the process.

As the dark leader of a notorious organization called the Shadowkeepers, he commands the Avatar army, along with numerous elite factions of various enemies that lingered in the atmosphere of the Solar System, infecting the surfaces of humanity's worlds with the Darkness. While the minions of the Darkness look up to him, there are a special few within the inner circle who hold him in high regard as their savior.

He is the main antagonist of the Paradox expansion, having corrupted Mallory Bertha with the Darkness through her birthright jewel and, by extension, Fusion, killed countless Guardians, some of them being Vanguard Commander Zavala, Devrim Kay, Failsafe, and Shin Malphur, destroyed both The Last City and the Traveler, and enshrouded the Solar System, which earned him both the favor and respect of the Darkness as its champion.

Childhood
Born to Yukito Narusaka and Aoi Narusaka on October 7th, 2008, Kazuto Narusaka was adopted by Midori Kirigaya, his aunt; Minetaka Kirigaya, his uncle; and Suguha Kirigaya, his cousin. Throughout his childhood, he grew fond of computers and gave up kendo. When he was 10, he managed to find out the identities of his biological parents.

The Death Game and Beyond
"Our people remember a time when humanity looked up to him as many things: bright kid, player, protector, and savior. Numerous myths, legends, and tales spoke of him as the Black Swordsman, the hero of Aincrad and liberator of a thousand innocent souls. If only they were able to help him find his way back towards the path of the noble morality... the path of the Great Machine."

- Koriks, Kell of Flame to The Guardian.

See the full chronology surrounding Kirito's history here.

On November 6th, 2022, Kazuto Kirigaya, now known as Kirito, was among the ten thousand players who got trapped in Sword Art Online by Akihiko Kayaba, his idol and the creator of said game who adopted the identity of Heathcliff, the leader of the Knights of the Blood guild. Despite all the sufferings and traumatic nightmares that came his way, he, along with Asuna, Klein, Agil, Lisbeth, and Silica, managed to defeat the creator and beat the game, freeing all the surviving players in the progress.

Two months after the end of the SAO Incident, Kirito enlisted the help of Suguha and his daughter Yui, along with his other good-hearted friends, in order to defeat Sugou Nobuyuki and save Asuna and the other 299 kidnapped players within the heart of ALFheim Online.

Some time after Sugou's arrest by the police, Kirito accepted Seijirou Kikuoka's request to enter the world of Gun Gale Online to investigate the mysterious circumstances surrounding the GGO players' deaths. Along the way, he teamed up with Shino Asada to defeat Death Gun, who was later revealed to be Shouichi Shinkawa, Kyouji's older brother, and avenge their deaths. At some point, he caught a glimpse at Excalibur, the rumored Holy Sword that once belonged to King Arthur, and gathered Asuna, Lisbeth, Silica, Klein, and Shino for an expedition to Jötunheimr to retrieve the sword before anyone else could steal their chance. Following the success of this mission, he encountered Yuuki Konno and later teamed up with her and the Sleeping Knights to beat the boss of the 27th floor several days before paying tribute to her at a funeral in New Aincrad.

Later on, he and his friends would test out Ordinal Scale. Expecting to immerse themselves into a new world, they instead came face-to-face with Dr. Tetsuhiro Shigemura, who sought to harvest memories from all of the SAO players in order to resurrect his daughter Yuna; fortunately for them, Eiji showed up to help them thwart the doctor's plans, restoring the memories of those players.

Some months later, he was recruited by Kikuoka to help Rath with its experiment known only as Project Alicization. When he woke up in a forest, he met Eugeo and Alice Zuberg and became friends with them. Upon returning to the virtual world, he reunited with Eugeo and Alice, teaming up with them and a few other friends, including Selka, Ronye Arabel, Tiese Shtolienen, and Cardinal, to overthrow Quinella and return to the real world. However, upon defeating Quinella, his return was intercepted by Gabriel Miller and his allies Vassago Casals and Critter, all of whom launched an attack on the Space Turtle at the behest of the National Security Agency in order to retrieve the Soul Translator technology. However, he later returned to help his friends defeat Gabriel's forces and protect Alice.

A few months after the end of the War of Underworld, Kirito teamed up with Asuna and Alice to defeat Mutasina and the Virtual Research Society in order to beat the Unital Ring game.

Fall From Grace
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Descent into Darkness
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The Dreaming Heart
Sometime after the First Collapse, the worlds of the Solar system partway drawn into Aincrad from various "Darkness Zones" left behind, the a-life that would come to be known as the Black Swordsman was deposited at the foot of the Watching Tower. Confused and disoriented, Kirito demanded answers from anything that would speak to him, and received nothing. After many long and fruitless months of attempting escape, Kirito gave up all hope and resigned himself to his fate. It was then the Darkness spoke to him, promising rich rewards in exchange for lifelong servitude. The a-life agreed, and was rechristened the Black Swordsman, herald of the Darkness's coming and leader of its armies.

As time passed differently in Aincrad, or perhaps the Darkness had bent the passage of time around the a-life specifically, no sooner had the Swordsman agreed than it was revealed the Black Fleet had been mustering for its second all-out assault upon a weakened Traveler and the small alliance of humans it had rallied. Kirito was sent out from Aincrad into the material realm, reawakening long dormant lieutenants of Darkness and cutting off avenues of escape; at some point, he would be reunited with his Angel, Asuna, who had been waiting patiently for his return.

Birth of the Shadowkeepers
"You were right. Those people... they never understood us... what we've suffered. They abandoned us in favor of those monsters they call heroes, but you don't have to worry anymore. Everything's going to be okay."

- Asuna to Kirito, moments after their reunion.

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Call to the Shadows
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Rebellion of the Empire
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Cataclysm on Earth
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The Second Collapse
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Retaking of Sol
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Legacy
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Gameplay
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Personality and Traits
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Family

 * Yukito Narusaka, biological father &dagger;
 * Aoi Narusaka, biological mother &dagger;
 * Midori Kirigaya, aunt and adoptive mother &dagger;
 * Minetaka Kirigaya, uncle and adoptive father &dagger;
 * Suguha Kirigaya, cousin and adoptive sister &dagger;
 * Asuna Yuuki, wife
 * Yui, daughter &dagger;
 * Tatsuyi Kirigaya, son
 * Yuji, son (status unknown)

Trivia
See the rest of the trivia here.
 * He is based upon a character of the same name from Sword Art Online.
 * He is voiced by Yoshitsugu Matsuoka and Bryce Papenbrook.
 * The name Kirito is a contraction of his real name, Kirigaya Kazuto ("Kiri" from Kirigaya and "to" from Kazuto).
 * He uses a self-made PC with a 24 GHz octa-core CPU and, by extension, SIVA, which can be found within the lair room in Aincrad.
 * His favorite dishes are brown stew chicken with mushrooms due to its similarity to Ragout Rabbit Stew from SAO and, due to Asuna's influence, teriyaki and mayonnaise hamburgers, shio ramen, and honey pies.

List of appearances

 * Destiny 2:
 * Paradox
 * Season of the Black Swordsman
 * Season of Dissonance
 * Shadows' Legacy Update
 * Season of the Malignant
 * Season of Shapes
 * Age of Triumph