Forum:Kirito, the Black Swordsman

"The Legendary Black Swordsman of Aincrad, the boy who cleared the death game called "Sword Art Online," the hero who saved Asuna, and the man who murdered Zavala, Kazuto Kirigaya now leads the notorious legion of villains who call themselves the Shadowkeepers as the Shadow King. His ascension over the Solar System could spell the destruction of the Light and everything we fought for."

- Official Description

Kirito is the Black Swordsman of Aincrad, the husband of Asuna and father of Yui Narusaka, and a teenager who 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.

As the dark leader of the notorious Shadowkeepers, he commands the Shadow Army, an elite faction 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, the elite commanders of said army devote themselves to carrying out his mission.

He is the main antagonist of the Paradox expansion, having killed Zavala and destroyed Auradon, which earned him both the favor and respect of the Darkness as its champion.

Childhood and Past
Although not much is known about Kirito, except for his childhood, all the Guardians know are that he was one of the players who were trapped in Sword Art Online and that he fell in love with a girl named Asuna.

Uniting Humanity's Nightmares
Upon accepting the powers of the Darkness, Kirito and Asuna stepped into the Guardian's universe and rallied unfathomable waves of the enemies of Humanity, including the Fallen, Hive, Vex, Cabal, Taken, and Scorn, promising them that they can rule the entire universe alongside them and get their revenge on the Guardians and the Traveler.

Attack on Auradon
Some weeks after the Jewel-bilee, Kirito and Asuna led the Shadowkeepers and their newly-assembled Shadow Army to the Isle of the Lost, where they freed the son of Yzma known as Zevon from the frozen prison before launching a high-stakes invasion on Auradon that resulted in Mal's corruption at the hands of the Darkness and the deaths of countless civilians and heroes, including Zavala. Having triumphed over the now-dead Zavala, they proceeded to launch the codes for the Darkness's corruptive-matter system, simply known as Lightfall, which summoned waves of malevolent Blights that destroyed everything that Auradon stood for, killed all living beings of Light and civilians of Auradonian blood within it, and turned the entire city into a realm of their ideal birth worlds, officially beginning the Shadowkeepers Apocalypse.

A New Aincrad
"For years, the world had been bound by aspects of a failed past, full of lies that the Traveler brought upon this universe. But, we knew the truth. In Light, there was only weakness. Only failure. Only subjugation. Only death. But where the Light took, the Dark gives. No longer will we be pawns of the Light's lies. No longer will we stand by and let those monsters and so-called heroes abuse our people. No longer will we watch the lives of those we care for be lost. In Darkness, there is only strength. Only power. Only victory. Only freedom. Only life. And we shall rise forever!"

- Kirito, rallying the forces of Darkness.

Moments after taking over Auradon, Kirito and Asuna set up countless programs and SIVA networks from his computer that the Pyramids used to rebuild Aincrad as they saw fit and split up the Shadow Army into its six respective groups: the House of Shadows, led by Kotrik, Bloodcrafter of Kirito, a notorious Fallen Kell of Shadows who stole Guardian tech from The Last City; the Shadow Swarm, led by Zharves, Shadowcaster of Kirito, a surviving Hive Deathsinger who formerly served Crota and his father; the Shadow Divisive, led by Hydrax, Mindkiller of Kirito, a massive Vex Axis Mind Hydra who possessed the ability to stop time; the Shadow Legion, led by Gha'arn, Crownforger of Kirito, a powerful Cabal warlord who helped murder Calus and overthrow the Leviathan; the Reborn, led by Thu'urg, Blightmaker of Kirito, a Taken Cabal commander who helped ignite a new Taken War; and the Cult of Shadows, led by Vayeriks, Fatesmith of Kirito, Fikrul's right hand and a commander of the first Scorn.

Appearances

 * Destiny 2
 * Paradox