Kizmel

Kizmel (キズメル) is a major character in the Progressive series of the Aincrad Arc. She is a Dark Elven Royal Guard, a member of the Dark Elven Pagoda Knight, and an elite quest Non-Player Character (NPC) for the Elf War campaign, who partied with Kirito and Asuna throughout the campaign.

Appearance
Kizmel is a dark skinned Dark Elf, with pointy ears, lilac hair and onyx-black eyes (violet in the light novel colored illustrations). Kizmel wears a dark cloak which has a high level charm on it that allows her to turn fully invisible, especially effectively at morning and evening hours. She wears black and purple coloured light armor under her cloak of a similar color, and a black silk undersuit underneath those. During her stay at Yofel Castle, she temporarily wore a long, deep purple dress.

Personality
Initially, Kizmel behaved no different than her beta test incarnation, an ordinary NPC. However, after Kizmel survived the battle with the Forest Elven Hallowed Knight, it was gradually revealed how advanced her intelligence and independence was, which caused Kirito to repeatedly question if she was a high-functioning artificial intelligence, such as when she followed him and Asuna to Zumfut or during their stay at Yofel Castle. Kizmel lacks awareness of certain human concepts, such as shame in her naked body being seen by the opposite gender, thus she finds no issue with going to a mixed bath without undergarments.

Concerto of Black and White
When first encountered by Kirito and Asuna on December 14, 2022, Kizmel was locked in combat against a Forest Elven Hallowed Knight in the Forest of Wavering Mists. Both elves ordered them to leave, but the players ignored them and assaulted the Forest Elf, thus siding with the Dark Elves. To everyone but Asuna's surprise, they managed to defeat the Forest Elf without losing half their hit points. After several seconds of motionless silence, Kizmel retrieved the bag of leaves holding the Jade Key from where the Forest Elf's body had vanished and thanked Kirito and Asuna for their help. She then invited them to accompany her to the Dark Elf Base, where they could deliver the Jade Key to the Dark Elf Commander and receive a reward for their assistance. As Asuna agreed in a still-stunned Kirito's place, the Dark Elven Royal Guard led them through the misty woods, dispatching any monsters they encountered, and quickly arriving at the camp, hidden by a Forest-Sinking charm. When Asuna wondered at the presence of charms in a world without magic, Kizmel clarified that the charms were but an echo of the magic the elves possessed before her people, the Dark Elves of Lyusula, were separated from the earth.

After Kirito and Asuna were debriefed and remunerated by the commander, Kizmel thanked them once again, and asked for their names. After Kirito and Asuna clarified the pronunciation of their names, Kizmel offered to share her tent with them, as no spares remained, before leaving for the dining tent. About an hour later, Kizmel entered her tent while Kirito and Asuna were inside, and offered the services of the dining and bathing tents, as well as her own assistance, then disrobed for resting, prompting Asuna to drag Kirito out of the tent.

After sleeping for several hours, Kizmel visited the graveyard behind the commander's tent. When Kirito awoke and found her there, she advised him to fully rest himself but, at his query, explained that the gravestone she was surveying belonged to her sister Tilnel, who had perished the previous month during an ambush by the Forest Elves. Kizmel confessed her willingness to die when she had accepted the Jade Key mission and attributed Kirito and Asuna's intervention to the act of the gods she had lost faith in. When Kirito declared that they had arrived and helped her of their own volition, and that they would accompany her to the end, Kizmel promised to defend them for as long as they were together.

At three in the morning on December 15, as the trio left the camp for the next quest, Kizmel quietly observed Asuna's look of wonder at the beauty of their surroundings covered in the pale blue moonlight, softly remarking that it reminded her of Tilnel's similar love for the night forest. While they were talking about antidote items and Kizmel's ring on their search for the spider cave, she sensed two monsters, revealed to be Thicket Spiders, approaching their position from the front and the right, and moved to engage the one on the right, leaving the other to be dealt with by the players. At the end of the battle, Kirito requested a high five with Asuna, and Kizmel later enquired on the meaning of the gesture they performed. Once Asuna explained and demonstrated it, the Dark Eleven Knight remarked that she did not find it unpleasant, despite the elves' general aversion to body contact, and repeated the feat with Kirito. After Kirito recovered from a moment of recollection, the group began proceeding towards the origin of the spiders.

After several more battles with the spiders, the trio reached the spider cave. Hearing Asuna struggling with game terms, Kizmel remarked that the human language had yet to be unified, attributing it to the existence of nine different human nations before the Great Separation. Kizmel asserted that they had to investigate the cave to learn more concrete evidence on the spiders, thus the party began searching each room on the first level of the dark dungeon. Kizmel's elven night vision proved valuable in warning of incoming enemies and preparing for combat throughout this search.

When the group had explored most of the floor, they heard another party approaching. As Kizmel and her companions desired to avoid contact with the players, Kizmel had their torches extinguished and used her cloak to conceal them against the wall while the party of players, revealed to be led by Kibaou, passed by on route to find an item for the guild formation questline. Having averted contact with the players, Kizmel inquired about Kirito and Asuna's relationship with them. After Kirito briefly explained the tensions between their groups, Kizmel compared their relationship to that among the elven knight brigades. When Asuna declared she would join Kizmel's faction, the Pagoda Knights, if she was given the opportunity, Kizmel revealed no human had ever been knighted by the Lyusulan queen, though their accomplishment could grant her an audience. As Kirito checked the map to see where they had yet to chart, Kizmel remarked that it had been long since she had last seen the usage of the Mystic Scribing charm, which allowed humans to store knowledge and physical items within a small space.

In one of the last rooms, the trio found a silver leaf brooch, which Kizmel identified as the insignia of the Pagoda Knights, belonging to an apparently decreased scout. Before the group could begin their journey to return to the Dark Elf Base and report to the commander to continue the quest, they heard Kibaou's panicked party rushing back to the cave entrance, seemingly chased by the dungeon boss. Kizmel and Asuna quickly left the group decision to Kirito, who eventually decided to draw the queen spider into the room where they had found the scout's emblem once Kibaou's group had passed and fight it there.

With the monster's attention successfully drawn away from the other party, Kizmel and Asuna followed Kirito's instructions and warnings about its attacks, defeating the boss in three minutes. When Asuna complained how their actions would have inadvertently helped Kibaou and his companions, Kizmel assured her that their deeds would be rewarded. Ten minutes later, after Kirito had collected the Queen Spider's Poison Fang that the dungeon boss had dropped, they resumed their journey back to the base camp.

Avoiding further contact with Kibaou's party and evading combat with monsters as much as possible, the trio returned to the camp just before dawn. There, Kizmel left Kirito and Asuna to make their report to the commander and departed from the party to rest in her tent. A short while later, she was visited by Kirito and Asuna, who wished to ask about the camp's blacksmith. While preparing breakfast, Kizmel saw Asuna punching Kirito for staring at the elf, and misinterpreted this as friendly interaction. During their meal, Kizmel answered the query about the blacksmith and graciously accepted their gratitude for the breakfast. Upon hearing of their plans to return to a human town, Kizmel offered to teleport them close to Zumfut with an elven charm, but the players declined.

Several hours later, Kizmel teleported to an area near Zumfut to check on Kirito and Asuna's condition. Having successfully snuck past the NPC guards by using her Mistmoon Cloak, Kizmel located her companions in the meeting place at the center of the town. Seeing Kirito hesitating on his answer to Asuna's question, Kizmel whispered to him to speak his mind while he still could, and praised him when he followed her encouragement. After Kirito and Asuna left the town, Kizmel was called by the former to reveal herself. When asked for her reasons to risk her life by coming into the city, the Dark Elf declared it was her duty to serve and protect them, and boasted of the capabilities of her Mistmoon Cloak in response to their worries. Accepting their request to live with her for the next week, Kizmel accompanied them on their return to the Dark Elf Base, effortlessly defeating any monsters they encountered with the help of Asuna. Along the way, she observed Kirito's unusual silence and, when he claimed he was wondering which of the girls he would like to marry, replied that marrying her would require the permission of the queen of Lyusula.

During the course of the next three days, Kizmel assisted the players with the Elf War campaign and other tasks, earning a level in the process. On December 18, the group tracked a Forest Elf infiltrator to the Forest Elf Camp before the players had to take break from the quest for the Field Boss battle. Later that same day, Kizmel told Kirito the legend of the Great Separation, when a hundred circular plots of land were cut from the earth to form the floating castle of Aincrad, dividing the elven kingdoms and the other civilizations in the process. That night, Kizmel coincidentally encountered Kirito while he was finishing his bath. Surprised at his presence, Kizmel offered to join him, and undressed at the washing station just as he announced he was leaving. Applying soap over her body, she asked Kirito to wash her back for her, as no one had done so ever since Tilnel's demise.

As Kirito scrubbed her back, Kizmel revealed that she had been experiencing unusual dreams, wherein the both of them were fighting the Forest Elf again. However, in the dreams, Kirito was dressed differently and working with several unfamiliar men instead of Asuna. She also revealed that, in the dreams, their group was unable to stand against the Forest Elf and began to fall one after the other. In order to save them, Kizmel would unleash the power of the Holy Tree to defeat their opponent, sacrificing herself in the process. Each time she fell to the ground, Kirito would look sadly upon her. Kizmel noted that although his equipment and companions were always different each time she had the dream, his face remained the same. Moments later, after Kirito managed to prevent an impatiently waiting Asuna from entering the tent, Kizmel teased him on humans bathing together, and revealed that elves could not afford the luxury of gender segregated bathing quarters on the battlefield. She agreed to elaborate on the dreams at a later time, wondering to herself on their meaning.

After the bath and a meal, Kizmel spent about four hours helping Kirito and Asuna complete the quests they had obtained from Zumfut, before they all went to sleep. When Kizmel awoke several hours later, she found Kirito missing. Due to Asuna's wish to pursue him, the two found Kirito desperately trying to mediate between the Dragon Knights Brigade and the Aincrad Liberation Squad, who were arguing with each other over their respective progression in the Elf War questline. When Lind expressed his disbelief that Kirito and Asuna would be able to clear the Labyrinth by themselves, the Dark Elven knight revealed herself to the other players and proclaimed her support of Kirito and Asuna's efforts in the Labyrinth, intimidating the guilds with her high level. When Kibaou complained about the beater and his partner acquiring such a powerful ally, Kizmel expressed her difficulty in understanding Kibaou's Kansai dialect to Kirito in a whisper.

While the guild leaders discussed with their partners, Kizmel listened to Kirito's proclamation that they were not born in Aincrad. In response, Kizmel revealed she was aware of their origins, believing their arrival to be the work of the last charm of humanity that allowed summoning warriors from another land to unite the Floors. She repeated her offer to assist them in the Labyrinth, on the condition that they told her of their homes and the lives they had there. When the guilds finished their discussion, Kizmel listened as Lind announced that the Dragon Knights and the Liberation Squad were both abandoning the Elf War campaign, and thus he requested Kirito's party to determine whether the questline actually possessed crucial information on the 3rd Floor Boss. After both guilds left, Kizmel reproved Kirito for his recklessness before they departed to deliver the orders Kirito had stolen to the Dark Elf commander.

Having delivered the quest item to the commander, the three of them immediately proceeded to work on the next several quests. After the Jade Key was stolen while it was being transported to the 4th Floor for safety during the eighth quest, Kizmel proved invaluable in tracking the thief to his hideout during the following quest. The three then began working on the final campaign quest on the 3rd Floor, which involved clearing a large dungeon to find the thief, but the group was forced to return to the base camp for rest after defeating the first dungeon boss. The next morning, on December 20, they resumed their progress and successfully retrieved the key from within the dungeon by vanquishing the Fallen Elf Commander boss who guarded it. As they arrived at the Western Spirit Tree to transport the key to the Dark Elves on the next floor, Kizmel announced she had to deliver the key personally, but the two could not accompany her as only Dark Elves were allowed to travel through the Spirit Tree. After having a brief conversation with her two companions while hugging them in turn, the Dark Elf bid her farewell with a salute, then passed the guards of the Spirit Tree and disappeared into the tree.

Barcarolle of Froth
In the evening of December 24, 2022, Kizmel was sitting in the garden of the courtyard when Kirito and Asuna arrived at Yofel Castle, much to her pleasant surprise. After greeting them warmly, Kizmel inquired about the 3rd Floor boss battle, thus learning that the base commander's intel had been helpful in the fight. The trio then went inside for a meal, after which she showed the players to the officers' quarters for the night, offering her assistance if they contacted her in the adjacent room, before leaving.

Some time later, Kizmel joined Kirito and Asuna at the great bath in the castle. As the three enjoyed the view from the baths, Kizmel explained how the castle's position successfully prevented it from being breached, which led to its defenders growing complacent.

Scherzo of Deep Night
After the 4th Floor Boss battle, Kizmel returned to Yofel Castle, where she received an order to transfer the Jade and Lapis Keys to the Dark Elf fortress on the 5th Floor. On December 30, 2022, she visited Asuna and Kirito in Shiyaya and assisted the pair with a few short quests in the Elf War campaign, including a fight against a Fallen Elf officer, before departing for the 6th Floor.

Hollow Realization
Kizmel, with no recollection of her time in Aincrad, was locked in battle with a monster when she was encountered in Sword Art: Origin by Kirito and Asuna. Startled by the duo suddenly intervening in the fight, she nonetheless accepted their assistance in dispatching several more approaching monsters. Once the creatures were defeated, Kizmel expressed her gratitude for their help, apologizing for her initial hostility. At Kirito's offer of continued assistance, the Dark Elf explained how several of her subordinates had been turned to stone, with none of her available abilities able to undo their condition. Having heard there was a cure for her comrades' ailment, she had traveled deep into the forest, but soon lost her way until her encounter with Kirito and Asuna. When Kirito showed to her the crimson gem he and Asuna had bought in town earlier, Kizmel recalled seeing a similar looking jewel on an alter elsewhere in the forest. Accepting their offer to journey together to the alter, the Dark Elf formally introduced herself to them before they began their expedition.

Once Kizmel's comrades were eventually freed from their cursed state, Kizmel offered to return the kindness Kirito and Asuna had shown her by aiding them on their future adventures. Afterwards, she can be recruited as a party member for future events and can also be found wandering around the town, admiring the sights of the human world.

Gallery

 * See Kizmel/Image Gallery

Trivia

 * In all reported cases of the quest during the SAO beta, Kizmel would sacrifice herself to defeat Forest Elf, instead of staying to help the quest takers. After Kirito and Asuna managed to keep Kizmel from dying in the official version, another dark elf took the place of Kizmel as the quest starter for the dark elf side of the campaign quest for any other player attempting the quest.
 * Kizmel has revealed that she has had several dreams of her encounters with Kirito during the beta test.

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