Yuuki Asuna

Yuuki Asuna (結城 明日奈), known as Asuna (アスナ) in «Sword Art Online» (SAO), «ALfheim Online» (ALO), as well as «Project Alicization», where she had temporarily used the Stacia (ステイシア) account, is the main heroine of the Sword Art Online series, the deuteragonist of the Aincrad Arc, as well as the protagonist of the Mother's Rosario side story. She is the daughter of the former CEO of RECT Inc.. Asuna was one of the 10,000 players trapped in «Sword Art Online», where she was the sub-leader of the «Knights of the Blood» (KoB) guild. Her skills with the rapier had her earned her the nickname «The Flash» (閃光).

After Sword Art Online was cleared, Asuna transferred her SAO avatar to ALfheim Online and began playing the game as an Undine. Due to her tendency to charge into battle with a rapier despite being a healer, she has earned the nickname «Berserk Healer» (バーサクヒーラー). Asuna has also created an alternative avatar, the Sylph «Erika» (エリカ), as she sometimes wanted to change her appearance.

Real World / Sword Art Online / Project Alicization
Asuna has long, orange-brownish chestnut hair and hazel eyes. In the early levels of SAO, she wore a dark red leather tunic with a lightweight copper breastplate and leather pants with boots up to the knees along with a hooded cape. After joining the «Knights of the Blood», she wore a red and white uniform that all KoB members wear and wielded a rapier made by Lisbeth, called the «Lambent Light».

Asuna's B-W-H measurements were 82-60-83 in the web serialization, but this has been changed to 80-59-82, for her SAO avatar.

ALfheim Online


Asuna's original avatar in ALfheim Online was the Fairy Queen, Titania. She wore a white outfit with a long white skirt, a crop top showing her belly, and a red ribbon that went around the topmost part of her top that came together to make a bow. She went barefoot, and wore a white strip around her ankles.



Asuna's Undine avatar has light blue hair with an appearance that otherwise hardly differs from her SAO avatar.

Asuna's Sylph avatar, «Erika», is specialized in close combat and had most of her ability points devoted to dagger skills, so she was more suited for duels than Asuna's main avatar, which was a half healer.

Personality
Asuna originally did not care about dying in the game before meeting Kirito. That meeting drastically changed Asuna's personality and outlook on life. She soon takes most things Kirito says to heart and looks to him for help, using him as somewhat of a lifeline.

Asuna is a kind and helpful young woman who, similarly to Kirito, cannot abandon another in trouble. She takes the game very seriously and is determined to clear it before Kirito tells her to enjoy SAO a bit. Asuna is also somewhat proud and despite her kind personality, she will not hesitate to get physical with those that challenge her authority or make fun of her abilities, such as cooking. She even challenged Kirito to a duel after an argument over how to handle a Field Boss. She is not afraid to act out on her own and will take matters into her own hands from time to time.

Asuna, in a similar manner to Kirito, is someone who can be controlled and manipulated by her emotions. This is evident during Kirito's final duel with Heathcliff on the 75th Floor, when she resisted her paralysis, jumped in front of Kirito, and took an attack that would have otherwise killed him. She also cannot handle seeing others die in front of her, such as when she recklessly attacked The Gleam Eyes after seeing the Aincrad Liberation Force players getting slaughtered.

In ALO, after being saved by Kirito, Asuna's personality had not changed a bit except that she was not as proud as she was in SAO. Her personality began to develop further still after meeting Yuuki in the events of Mother's Rosario. Seeing how Yuuki still moves forward, despite knowing her death is inevitable, Asuna takes after her and resolves to keep moving forward, no matter what happens.

Background


Asuna lived a comfortable life in her large home in Setagaya with her mother, father, and her brother. She originally went to private, all-girl schools before the events of SAO.

On November 6, 2022, Asuna logged onto SAO after she borrowed her brother's NerveGear. He was one of the people who waited in line for the game's release, but due to a sudden business trip, could not play on the opening day. When she discovered that she and all of the players were trapped in SAO, she secluded herself inside of her rented room in the «Town of Beginnings» for two weeks before resolving to take her fate into her own hands. This led her to kill monsters at an incredible rate and level up in a quick fashion, even risking her life in the process.

Aria of a Starless Night
By December 2, 2022, Asuna had spent three to four days battling in the 1st Floor's Labyrinth, having taken five Iron Rapiers with her and planning to return as soon as her last one was at half durability. Around 04:00, after dispatching a Ruin Kobold Trooper on the dungeon's nineteenth level with Linear, she leaned against the wall and sank to the floor, when she was approached by a male player, who critiqued her use of Sword Skills on nearly dead enemies as wasted effort. Just as Asuna finished declaring her belief that death was inevitable either way, she collapsed from exhaustion.

When Asuna awoke seven hours later, she found herself outside the Labyrinth, having been moved to safety by the boy. Before she could leave, she was informed of the First Floor Boss Raid Strategy Meeting taking place in «Tolbana» that afternoon and decided to visit the meeting with the boy. Upon reaching town, the two parted ways briefly.



The two eventually met up again while Asuna was buying bread. Kirito decided to share cream with her, which he had obtained from a quest and gave the bread a surprisingly good taste. Asuna thanked him for the bread, but explained she was not there to eat food. She explained her reason for coming, and Kirito apologized. At this point, Asuna mentioned it was time for the meeting, and the two went to it. The meeting was to organize a large raid to explore the Labyrinth and find the entrance to the boss room. The next day on December 3, the Boss Room was found, which prompted another meeting. After discussing the information they knew, they were informed that Argo's self-published guide had information regarding the boss from the beta period. They planned to attack the boss the next day, and Asuna and Kirito decided to party up as they were the only ones without a party already. During the planning, their party was decided to be a support group for attacking the smaller mobs in the room. Though Asuna disagreed with this, Kirito explained that it made sense, as they were only two people.

After the meeting, Asuna and Kirito were to have a conversation regarding something he had said during the meeting, but Asuna did not want to have it in public. While considering other possibilities, Kirito mentioned that he had a floor in a farmer's house, with a view and a bath, the latter of which caught Asuna's attention. She requested the location of other such rooms, but Kirito revealed he had rented the entire space and he could not cancel the transaction. As all the other rooms in the village were likely taken and trying to find another in the previous village after sunset was dangerous and would render her tardy for the boss meeting, Asuna quietly asked him to let her use his bath.

When they reached the farmhouse, Asuna was shown to Kirito's lodgings on the second floor and offered the bathroom, though she was told that the NerveGear could not adequately recreate a liquid environment. Asuna simply and sincerely stated the hot bathwater would be enough for her and entered the bathroom, but was somewhat dismayed at the door's lack of a lock. Reassuring herself that the swordsman was not the type to intrude and he could not harm her within the Area even if he did, Asuna breathlessly examined the exquisite details of the bath, which would be more appropriately located in a medieval European manor. Removing all of her equipment, Asuna quickly reached the bathtub and held her head under the shower from the bath sprout for a moment before allowing herself to fall back and splash into the water. Feeling completely relaxed with no regrets, she began wondering when she had developed such a strong appetite and urge to bathe, and how the details of the virtual world, flawed as they were, appealed to her more than that of the real world. However, Argo, who had met with Kirito to discuss the offer on his Anneal Blade, decided to enter the bathroom to change her clothes. Noticing the sudden intrusion, Asuna screamed and delivered a blow that knocked him unconscious.

The next day on December 4, the two joined the raid group and headed for the boss room. After reaching the room, the players went into the formation planned in the meeting, and everything seemed to go well until the boss's health dropped below a quarter. At this point, the boss pulled out its secondary weapon which, unexpectedly, was a katana, and not what was originally predicted. This resulted in the boss using Sword Skills that everyone was unfamiliar with and the death of Diavel. In his last words, he called for Kirito to defeat the boss in his absence. Along with Agil, Asuna assisted Kirito in finally defeating the boss.

Kirito alone climbed the stairs to the 2nd Floor and, after reaching the top, Asuna came up behind him to speak with him briefly. She asked him how he knew her name, and he proceeded to explain that, when in a party, a hit point bar is displayed in the top left corner of the player's vision and under it are the health bars of the player's party members, along with their names. He advised her to join a guild if someone she trusts invited her, before he headed to the nearest town to activate the Teleport Gate there.

Rondo of a Fragile Blade
On December 8, 2022, four days after the first boss was defeated, Asuna later encountered Kirito, watching a scene of a player arguing with SAO's first known blacksmith, Nezha, because he failed a weapon enhancement four times in a row. After the commotion was cleared, Kirito and Asuna talked and Kirito decided to help her gather more materials for enhancing her Wind Fleuret.

On the field she made a bet with Kirito that she could kill 50 wasps faster than he could and, in the end, won the bet. Kirito, consequently, had to pay for their dinner, and Asuna choose a restaurant, recommended by Argo, which had a very tasty, but expensive dessert. After eating, they found out that they got a luck buff for eating the dessert. Afterwards, Kirito took her to the blacksmith from earlier in order to try for another upgrade on Asuna's Wind Fleuret. Despite there being a 97% success rate, the blacksmith failed and her Wind Fleuret seemingly shattered due to a new, previously unheard-of penalty, which the blacksmith then told them about.

With tears in her eyes, she resumed walking with Kirito. They sat on a bench and later checked into an inn. Minutes later, Kirito abruptly entered Asuna's room and made her materialize all her items. Under the big pile of materialized equipment, Asuna's Wind Fleuret was somehow found. She asked Kirito to explain how he got her beloved weapon back and he explained to her about the dropping weapon system and the scam that the blacksmith was pulling.

Concerto of Black and White
As Asuna and Kirito ascended the stairs to the 3rd Floor on December 14, 2022, Asuna was informed by the latter that the appearance of human enemies from the 3rd Floor onward marked the true beginning of Sword Art Online. Wondering if Kayaba Akihiko had been planning his crime from the very beginning, Asuna pondered on the referral of Sword Skill clashing against Sword Skill as a concerto of life and death. She remarked the basic definition of a concerto did not match the design behind many of the battles in SAO, though she added that she could be overthinking the matter. Seeing that her partner was walking backwards right towards the doors at the top of the stairs, she tried to warn him about it, but he collided with them and tumbled through the doorway before she could do so.

After Asuna marvelled at the surroundings for several moments, she was given the choice to either join Kirito for a task, or disband the party. Sensing that the errand would best handled before restocking on supplies at the main city, she bluntly chose the former option. While they traveled the road to the next town, she listened to Kirito's description of the their current location and its residents and interjected to warn him of a monster approaching behind them. After the monster was dispatched, Asuna was asked to listen for the clashing of blades, until both of them heard it southwest of their position.

Following the clanging of metal on metal for less than five minutes, Asuna and Kirito soon found a clearing wherein two Non-Player Characters (NPCs), a light-colored man and a dark-colored woman, were locked in combat with each other. While Asuna was stunned at the realism of the NPCs, she was informed by Kirito that they were a Forest Elf and a Dark Elf, respectively, as well as quest givers for a campaign quest that lasted until the 9th Floor. She was also warned that they could only choose one of the sides, with no option of restarting the campaign or switching sides.

Asuna decided to follow the same route Kirito had taken in the beta and suspected he had chosen the Dark Elf. Just as she was about to join the Dark Elf, she was stopped by Kirito, who warned her of the impossibility of beating the Forest Elf, as both NPCs were elite monsters. However, she was reassured that the moment their hit points dropped below the halfway point, the Dark Elf would aid them with a special attack to win the fight, thus they only had to concentrate on defense.

When the pair stepped into the clearing, both elves ordered the humans to leave, but Asuna and Kirito ignored them and pointed their blades at the Forest Elf. As the elf directed his aggression towards them, the fencer acknowledged her partner's reminder to focus on defense, but nevertheless regarded her opponent with a determined look. Twenty minutes later, while the stunned Forest Elf collapsed in defeat, Asuna remarked on the relative easiness of the battle, with both her and Kirito's hit points being just above half.

Barcarolle of Froth
On December 21, 2022, Asuna accompanied Kirito on the stairs to the door to the 4th Floor. Upon learning that the carved relief on the doors had been altered from the beta, she sensed the change in pictures corresponded with a change in the floor's design, and opened the doors to reveal a fiercely rushing mountain stream before them.

Scherzo of Deep Night
Following the defeat of Wythege the Hippocampus, Asuna and Kirito arrived at Karluin, where they activated the town portal and spent the night at an inn. The next day on December 28, after restocking their items, the duo devoted most of the day to completing quests. As twilight approached, Asuna, remembering how serious Kirito had looked while recounting the playing killing on the 5th Floor in the beta test, decided to request him to teach her the basics of player versus player combat.

February, 2023
In February 2023, Asuna became the sub-leader of the newly created «Knights of the Blood» guild in SAO, shortly after the 25th Floor was cleared and, during the battle, the leading clearing guild, the Aincrad Liberation Force, was nearly wiped out. After joining the guild, she constantly disagreed with Kirito in the boss clearing strategy meetings on how to beat the field and floor bosses.

The Progressors
Around the end of February 2024, Asuna and the other Clearers spent a week attempting to determine a way to circumvent the GeoCrawler, the Field Boss of the 56th Floor blocking the path to the local Labyrinth, as frontal attacks against it were ineffective, while its position prevented flanking the monster. On March 6, 2024, following Klein and Kirito's latest failed plan to overcome the boss, Asuna assumed control of the strategy meeting and proposed luring the boss into the local village, where they could attack its weak point from behind while it was distracted with killing the villagers.

When Kirito argued against her plan, Asuna reminded him that clearing the game was their main priority. However, upon discovering that the Black Swordsman was one level higher than her, the Flash challenged the solo player to vindicate his belief through a first-strike duel. While Asuna initially managed to force Kirito on the defensive with her speed and short-delay-time Sword Skills, she was tricked into leaving herself open when he feinted drawing and striking with a second sword, resulting in her defeat.

Later that night, as Asuna sat by herself outside one of the houses in the village, mulling over her loss and Kirito's attitude, she accidentally triggered an encounter with an NPC girl named Ruru, who approached her and inquired over the player's apparent lack of sleep. When the child began singing a lullaby for her, Asuna grew interested in the lyrics' reference to an iron-armored serpent falling asleep with the rest of the characters in the song due to a musician playing the lute. The next day on March 7, after Ruru's song was successfully used in conjunction with a player's Musical Instruments skill to subdue and defeat the GeoCrawler, Asuna declined to participate in the subsequent victory party. Seeing Kirito celebrating with Ruru, she realized the boy was not simply working to escape Sword Art Online but was also truly living in it.

A Murder Case in the Area
On the morning of April 22, 2024, Asuna teleported to the main city of the 59th Floor. Seeing Kirito dozing on a hill next to the Teleport Gate plaza, she chided him for not actively assisting the other players in clearing the Labyrinth, but grew surprised when he stated his preference to enjoy the day's pleasant weather settings. Realizing how Kirito viewed his time in Aincrad as simply living in the virtual world, the girl sent the other members of the Knights of the Blood ahead and lay next to the boy, falling into a deep, peaceful sleep.

When Asuna finally awoke over eight hours later, she grew mortified to find Kirito watching her from right beside her; however, she soon realised he had been guarding her from player killers and thus offered the boy a free meal as gratitude for his consideration. While eating a salad at a restaurant in Marten, the two suddenly heard a horrified scream from outside, prompting them to rush to the source. There, they discovered a man impaled with a barbed spear and hanging by his neck from a noose from a church's window, who seemingly died before anyone could assist him. Convinced that the player had been killed in a duel, the girl and the boy quickly searched for a duel winner notice, to no avail. Aware that panic and disaster would occur if there was a way to kill players within a safe zone, the two agreed to investigate the matter together.

August, 2024
Asuna was one of the participants of the crusade against Laughing Coffin.

Warmth of the Heart
On June 24, 2024, Asuna visited her best friend, Lisbeth, at the latter's shop, and asked for Lisbeth to polish her rapier, the Lambent Light. During this time, Lisbeth deduced that Asuna was in love, and made Asuna promise to bring her new lover to the shop some time later.

Two days later on June 26, after Lisbeth had created a new sword for Kirito and as she was about to confess her feelings to him, Asuna burst into the shop in a panic. She explained that she was worried that something had happened to Lisbeth due to her having gone missing and being unreachable the day before. After Lisbeth explained that she had been stuck in a dungeon and told Asuna that she had been in the dungeon with Kirito, Asuna, who only now noticed Kirito, revealed that Kirito had come to the shop because he had asked her for a place where he could get a strong sword. Lisbeth, who now harbored feelings for the Black Swordsman, realized that he was also the one Asuna loved and took her to a café in Lindarth to confirm whether Kirito was the one Asuna was interested in. After Asuna confirmed this, Lisbeth revealed that Kirito had broken her best sword while testing its durability and that they had gone to a dungeon to find a rare raw material in order to forge a stronger, better sword for him. After talking a bit about the adventure and Kirito, Lisbeth abruptly left under the guise of having an appointment and asked Asuna to keep Kirito company.

October, 2024
After Asuna entered Agil's shop to find Kirito on October 17, 2024, Kirito asked Asuna to cook an ingredient he had found. He revealed that he had acquired a Ragout Rabbit's Meat, an incredibly rare S-class ingredient. Even Asuna, who had recently completed her Cooking skill, had not seen such a rare ingredient before. She demanded to be given half of the rabbit if she cooked it. Kirito reluctantly agreed and the two headed to Asuna's flat in Selmburg, the main city on the 61st Floor. After they ate their fill, Asuna persuaded Kirito to join her party, and the next day on October 18, they discovered the 74th Floor Boss, The Gleam Eyes. They proceeded to hastily retreat to a safe area, where they later encountered Klein and his guild, the «Fuurinkazan», and troops from «The Army».

When «The Army»'s troops left towards the boss room, Asuna, Kirito and the Fuurinkazan followed behind, worried that «The Army»'s troops would get themselves into trouble. They were stalled by a group of lizardmen when they suddenly heard screams. Upon arrival at the door, they discovered with horror that the troops were unable to escape from the wrath of the boss due to the area being an Anti-Crystal Zone. Asuna rushed in to help, only to quickly endanger herself and, consequently, be rescued by Kirito. Together with Klein, she distracted the boss while Kirito prepared his «Dual Blades» skill, then watched with a combination of awe and terror as the two clashed with power she had never seen. In the end, Kirito defeated The Gleam Eyes and, suddenly overcome with fatigue, he collapsed to the ground, noticing that he only had a sliver of his hit points (HP) remaining. Asuna rushed to his side and, upon seeing his state, quickly healed him and then nearly crushed him in an overbearing hug. Shaking with a combination of fear and newfound emotions she had not realized were there until she had seen how her friend had nearly died, Asuna decided to take a break from her guild in order to spend more time with Kirito.

When she returned to «Granzam» to apply for leave, Heathcliff told her that before he could grant her request, he wished to duel with Kirito. He set his terms: if Kirito won the duel, he would allow Asuna to have her requested time off, but if Kirito lost, then Kirito would have to join the Knights of the Blood. The two returned to Granzam so that Kirito could talk with Heathcliff himself, but he ended up accepting the challenge. Kirito was, ultimately, defeated. Godfree, the Commander of the Vanguard of the Knights of the Blood, demanded Kirito's prowess in combat to be tested, despite Kirito having nearly won a duel with Heathcliff. Before leaving on the test, Kirito confided in Asuna his dark past with the Moonlit Black Cats guild. She embraced him as he tensed up and whispered in his ear that she was not planning on dying anytime soon, so he needed to stop worrying about her.

After Kirito departed with Godfree and Kuradeel, Asuna anxiously watched the party's progress on her own map back at the KoB headquarters, not being allowed to join them. Midway into their trip, Asuna noticed Godfree's disappearance from the map and rushed to save Kirito with panicked, adrenaline-fueled speed that players were, supposedly, incapable of reaching. She narrowly saved Kirito from Kuradeel, who had betrayed them midway through the trip, but was unable to bring herself to kill the man, despite all of her anger towards him for nearly killing someone she cared a great deal about. In that moment, Kuradeel sensed his opportunity and struck, launching a surprise attack against her. Despite Kuradeel's advantage, Kirito was fast enough to deflect the blow, albeit costing him his own hand, and he then finished Kuradeel off.

Upon realizing how her indecision had nearly killed both of them, Asuna collapsed to the ground in tears. She believed that her presence near Kirito had put him in danger, and through her tears told him that she wanted to stay away from Kirito, lest her presence once again be a liability upon him. Kirito, realizing that he was on the verge of losing her, chose to surprise Asuna by kissing her passionately. Asuna, while shocked, did not turn him away and instead melted into the kiss. Kirito solemnly declared his emotions for her, how he had come to realize that Asuna meant the world and more to him and that he would do anything to stay by her side. Asuna said the same to him, and Kirito requested that he be allowed to sleep with Asuna that night.

Later that night, after finishing their dinner together in Asuna's place, Asuna nervously turned down the lights and slowly removed her clothing. Kirito was completely and utterly shocked and quickly explained that he simply meant he wanted to stay by her side that night and not what Asuna was implying. Embarrassed by the situation, Asuna shouted and attacked Kirito, though the «Area» effect stopped her. Once things had been cleared up, they finally did sleep together and, later that night, Kirito proposed to Asuna, which she happily accepted.

The Day Before
On October 24, 2024, after sending messages to their friends and settling their request for a temporary withdrawal from the Knights of the Blood, Asuna and Kirito teleported to the 22nd Floor for their honeymoon. As Asuna and Kirito drew close to where the latter had first found the house, the sub-leader rushed ahead enthusiastically. However, the home was, surprisingly, no longer there.

Morning Dew Girl
On October 30, 2024, while walking through the woods and while Kirito was playfully scaring Asuna with ghost stories, they saw a pale entity in the forest. Convinced that Kirito's stories were true, Asuna screamed and hid behind him, but Kirito realized that the entity was actually a young girl. They walked up to her and tried to talk to her, but she suddenly fell unconscious. They carried her back to their cabin where they waited for her to wake up. Upon waking up, the girl had no memories, save for her own name: Yui. They then decided to help Yui find her real family, as Yui seemed far too young to be alone in SAO. They took her to the «Town of Beginnings» on the 1st Floor where they took her to a church where many other young children trapped in SAO had taken residence, but the person taking care of the children there, Sasha, confirmed that she had never seen Yui. Yulier, the sub-leader of «The Army», suddenly showed up at the church and besought Kirito and Asuna for their help in finding her husband, Thinker, the leader of «The Army», who had disappeared several days prior in a Hidden Dungeon beneath the Black Iron Palace. Yui stubbornly insisted on accompanying them.

After descending into the dungeon, they eventually found Thinker in a safe zone. Yulier rushed forward, overjoyed at the sight of her lover safe, but was barely saved from being ambushed by a boss: The Fatal Scythe. Kirito quickly ordered Asuna to take Yui and teleport to safety while he distracted the boss, but Asuna defied him and instead pushed Yui into Yulier's arms and told them to take her out of there with them. Asuna and Kirito managed to deflect a single blow from the boss but were completely overwhelmed by the effort, as the boss nearly killed them with its first strike. They realized that its level must match that of the 90th Floor and above bosses and that it would easily kill them if they resist any further. However, while they were struggling to get up, Yui intervened, materializing a massive, flaming, two-handed greatsword, the Object Eraser. Yui deleted the boss from the game, and Kirito and Asuna followed her into the safe-zone that Yulier and Thinker had teleported from.

There, they found an admin console, which, with admin credentials, could be used to control various aspects of the game. Yui revealed that she had recovered her memory and explained that she was actually an AI mental health counseling program that was sealed away on the first day of SAO's launch. After noticing a couple with unusual emotions, such as happiness, she developed a desire to be near Asuna and Kirito. However, Yui had been slated for deletion by the Cardinal System, the program which oversaw SAO's processes, after it deemed her as a foreign body due to ignoring its orders. Powerless to do anything, Asuna clung desperately to her "daughter", but Yui was deleted in Asuna's arms. Asuna collapsed to the floor, overwhelmed with sorrow, and lamented Yui's death, but Kirito intervened. Using Yui's still active admin credentials, he accessed the admin console and transferred Yui's data to his own NerveGear's local memory and transformed her into a game object, called Yui's Heart, in the form of a tear-shaped necklace for Asuna to wear and remember her by.

November, 2024
Two weeks later on November 7, 2024, they were called back by Heathcliff who explained that the next floor boss had been found, but was stronger than anticipated, as it had killed half of the members in the scouting party, while the other half were locked out of the boss room. Fearing for Asuna's safety, Kirito asked her to stay behind in the guild hall where it was safe. However, she refused and stated that she would kill herself if she found out that Kirito was killed in action, being unable to forgive herself for not going. After a short conversation about what their real life bodies must be going through, Asuna began to cry as Kirito embraced her in his arms. She told Kirito that she wished to be with him forever, to date in real life, and to truly get married.

Later on, they joined the guilds in attacking the 75th Floor Labyrinth's boss where, after defeating the boss, Kirito deduced and exposed Heathcliff's true identity as Kayaba Akihiko, the creator of SAO. Before challenging Kirito to a final duel, he put the other players in a state of paralysis. However, as Kirito was about to be struck down by Heathcliff, Asuna managed to move herself in front of the fatal blow, causing her character to die. Stricken with pain, Kirito continued fighting on, despite his HP reaching 0, and he managed to deal a fatal blow to Heathcliff with Asuna's rapier. After the battle, when Aincrad began to break down, Asuna and Kirito met once again in a special area created by Akihiko, who prevented them from dying because he wanted to talk to them, and told each other their real names. Afterwards they decided to kiss and fade away from the world as one.

Fairy Dance Arc


Instead of being released from Sword Art Online, Asuna was among a group of three hundred players who were captured and diverted to ALfheim Online by Sugou Nobuyuki (Oberon), thus she found herself trapped in a large birdcage atop the World Tree. About sixty days after her incarceration, during one of Oberon's visits to the cage, she learned, to her horror, of his experiments on the SAO survivors under his control as part of an effort to develop a way to control the human mind. Past midnight on January 22, 2025, Asuna escaped her prison by using the passcode she had seen Oberon entering into the keypad beside the door. While trying to find a console that she could use to log out, she discovered the lab facility where Nobuyuki was conducting experiments on the human brain. Though she was caught as she tried to log out, she managed to steal an administrator card before being returned to her prison.

Upon Kirito's arrival and as he tried to fly up to the top of the World Tree, only to be stopped by the barrier, Asuna heard Yui's call and threw down the admin card she had obtained to Kirito. Later on, Kirito and Yui arrived at the cage and the three of them were reunited. Suddenly, Yui disappeared and they were pressed down to the ground by the use of Gravity Magic, cast by Oberon, who then chained and began abusing Asuna. However, Kirito managed to force himself up and, by accessing Heathcliff's account which had admin privileges, easily killed Oberon and then released Asuna from her chains. After resuming their short reunion, Kirito logged Asuna off. When she woke up in her hospital bed, she sat quietly, anxiously waiting for Kirigaya Kazuto (Kirito). When he finally arrived, he was bloodied up by an encounter he had with Nobuyuki in the parking lot of the hospital, but after formally introducing themselves, as it was their first time actually meeting each other physically, they shared a passionate kiss.

Several months later on May 16, Asuna was waiting for Kazuto to meet up with her on a bench outside of school, with both of them attending a school specifically targeted at SAO survivors called the SAO Survivor School. Asuna listened to Kazuto's explanation of how Nobuyuki was arrested and how Kayaba Akihiko had killed himself after having downloaded his consciousness to the Internet. Asuna later attended the «Aincrad Capture Commemorative Party» at Andrew Gilbert Mills's (Agil's) Dicey Cafe, along with other SAO survivors and Kazuto's sister Suguha and, later that day, joined them during the Floating Castle Aincrad update in ALfheim Online.

Extra Edition
On July 25, 2025, Asuna joined Shinozaki Rika (Lisbeth) and Ayano Keiko (Silica) at the SAO Survivor School to help in teaching Suguha how to swim. During the training, she talked about how she met Kirito. Later she joined Kirito and friends for the «Deep Sea Plunderers» quest in ALO.

Phantom Bullet Arc
After Kazuto's meeting with Kikuoka Seijirou, Asuna was waiting for him in front of Otemachi Station, the Chiyoda Line on December 7, 2025, almost one year after her return to the real world. As she was waiting, she wondered about the "real" things around her, made up of atoms and not data, yet she felt that what had happened in virtual reality was also "real." As she mused this topic, she asked what were the differences between virtual reality and reality out loud. To her surprise, Kazuto suddenly answered from behind, saying that it was just the difference in the quantity of data.

Taking her hand, they both walked into the East Garden of the Imperial Palace and looked at the Edo Castle ruins together. After discussing several topics about their future together, their friends, and Yui, Kazuto shyly revealed the fact that he would be transferring his ALO avatar to another MMO game: Gun Gale Online (GGO). After Asuna's initial panicked reaction, Kazuto managed to calm her down and convinced her that he was only doing it because Seijirou, a government official who worked with Kazuto to uncover some events of SAO, she decided that it could not be helped and begrudgingly accepted that she would have to play ALO without him for several days, but insisted that the moment he was finished with Seijirou's request he would transfer his avatar's data back over to ALO.

A few days later on December 14, Asuna and all of their friends were gathered together in the room that Asuna and Kirito had rented in ALO in Yggdrasil City, watching the Bullet of Bullets tournament live on a huge, 16-inch screen television in their home. While watching it, Asuna noticed strange behavior coming from a player calling himself «Death Gun», who had pinned down another player, Pale Rider, with paralyzing bullets from a large sniper rifle in his possession. He walked over to Pale Rider's paralyzed body, raised a small pistol to him, and shot him once, instead of finishing him off with his rifle. This caused fear to seep into Asuna's stomach, as she knew something was wrong with this player. Moments later, Pale Rider suddenly seized up and disappeared from the tournament, with the broadcast stating his connection had been interrupted. Death Gun turned to the screen and made an announcement, and Asuna quickly realized that the player calling himself Death Gun was actually a player of SAO, and worse still, a Laughing Coffin member. Fearing the worst, that this man was here to actually kill people, Asuna quickly logged out of ALO and contacted Seijirou in the real world, demanding he log into ALO to give an explanation as to what Kirito's true purpose in GGO was.

As Asuna waited for him to log in, she suffered from severe anxiety and remembered the crusade that had destroyed the Laughing Coffin back in the last days of SAO. A huge raid party of fifty players, Asuna and Kirito included, had swept into the Laughing Coffin headquarters to finally destroy the evil, murderous guild once and for all, but, having been tipped off that the raid was coming, the red players set up an ambush. What had originally been intended - to simply lock up the Laughing Coffin members in the SAO prison so they could no longer harm anybody - quickly turned into a slaughter. Twenty-one of Laughing Coffin's members were killed, and eleven more of the raid party as well - thirty-two players in total dead forever.

Finally, Chrysheight (Kikuoka Seijirou) showed up, but before he could explain anything, Yui, who had been conducting research of her own, explained that there had been two mysterious deaths in the real world linked to this player, Death Gun, in GGO. What had just happened to Pale Rider was likely another murder, and it was revealed by Chrysheight that Kirito had been sent to investigate and possibly prevent anymore murders.

Frustrated that she was unable to protect him, Asuna resolved to stay by Kazuto's side instead. She logged out of ALO and quickly took a taxi to Kazuto's location: a room in a hospital in Chiyoda, the same one he had stayed in during his time in SAO. After getting there, the only thing Asuna could do was watch the broadcast of the Bullet of Bullets tournament and hold Kazuto's hand while he was immersed in the game. It was due to the warmth of Asuna's hand against his, the sensation of his lover supporting him, that Kirito gained the strength he needed to overcome the Laughing Coffin player in the final battle of the BoB tournament.

Mother's Rosario
On January 6, 2026, Asuna heard rumors of a player who was said to be stronger than any other, and had been challenging anybody who cared to try it to a duel. Supposedly, this player had never been defeated even once. Asuna at first doubted that this player was as strong as everybody was saying, as she was sure that Kirito would be stronger, but was informed by Kirito himself that he had also been defeated in a duel. Her curiosity now piqued, Asuna tried to duel the mysterious swordsman, who went by the nickname of «Absolute Sword», herself. On the 24th Floor, she came to the site where the swordsman was challenging players and found out that Absolute Sword was actually a girl named Yuuki. After both agreed to duel on the ground, an intense battle ensued, and Asuna nearly won, but an extremely powerful Original Sword Skill delivered by Yuuki defeated her. Despite Asuna's defeat, Yuuki suddenly seized Asuna's hand and dragged her along to the 27th Floor. There, Yuuki invited Asuna to join her to defeat the 27th Floor boss with her guild, the «Sleeping Knights». Together, after one failed attempt, they succeeded at defeating the boss, and their names were forever marked on the Monument of Swordsmen.

Asuna later learned that Yuuki and other members of the «Sleeping Knights» were all terminally ill patients who had been under FullDive for longer than even the SAO survivors. The benefit of Fulldive to them was the fact that, when immersed in VR, senses to the outside world could be cut off. Patients who were in great suffering could connect to a VR world and not have to experience the pain and suffering they might endure in the real world due to the VR interface intercepting their brain signals. It was possible for them to live life almost normally, to a degree, thanks to VR, despite their grave situations.

To Asuna's great surprise, Yuuki had only a few remaining months before she died. She decided to help Yuuki experience life to its fullest with the help of Kirito's VR probe, which could be operated by Yuuki through the Medicuboid that she was using in the hospital, to attend school and walk among the streets. In the end, after Yuuki died, Asuna reflected on her attitude and way of life. She committed that no matter what hardship she would face in life, she would continue to fight for her happiness and refuse to give up, just like Yuuki.

Alicization Beginning
Asuna learned about the part-time job that Kazuto was doing. Soon after she found about this information in detail at Dicey Cafe, she and Kazuto both left for her home. However, Kanamoto Atsushi (Johnny Black), a vengeful former player of Sword Art Online from the guild Laughing Coffin and the remaining member of the Death Gun conspiracy, unleashed his anger on Kazuto, severely injuring the latter.

Alicization Running
Asuna quickly accompanied Kazuto to the hospital. After Kazuto disappeared from the hospital the next day, Asuna, Leafa, Sinon, and Yui deduced that he was kidnapped and taken to a turtle-like facility, known as the Ocean Turtle, in the middle of the ocean. As such, Asuna requested the help of Koujiro Rinko in order to infiltrate the facility to find him. There, she learnt about Kazuto's situation, as well as details of Project Alicization, from Kikuoka Seijirou and Higa Takeru. After the conversation, Asuna went to see Kazuto from outside the second Soul Translator room, where she also met Nurse Aki, discovering that she was a sergeant at the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force.

At night, Asuna was visited by Rinko, who expressed her apology to Asuna as well as all SAO players by not interrupting Kayaba Akihiko's plan. Asuna responded that she did not have any resentment toward Rinko.

Alicization Turning
The next morning on July 6, 2026, on her way to see the Main Visualizer, Asuna encountered Ichiemom, Takeru, and Rinko. Upon reaching the sub control room, Asuna rushed toward the passageway outside the Soul Translator room to see Kazuto. After a discussion about Ichiemom, Asuna and Rinko left the passageway to have breakfast. On their way, they encountered two Rath employees, who made Asuna feel uneasy.

Alicization Invading
Later in the morning, while Asuna and Rinko were enjoying their breakfast, they were joined by Lieutenant Nakanishi, with whom they had a conversation about the Japanese destroyer Nagato, the ship escorting the Ocean Turtle.

Alicization Uniting
Not long after, the Ocean Turtle was attacked, thus Asuna and Rinko were asked by Seijirou to retreat to the upper shaft region of Ocean Turtle under the lead of Takeru.

Infinity Moment/Hollow Fragment
During Hollow Fragment, Asuna and Kirito were out shopping in Trader's Way, an area on the 76th Floor, when they suddenly realised that a system error caused by the battle with Heathcliff on the 75th Floor had corrupted and erased Kirito and Asuna's marriage status, leaving Asuna heartbroken and in tears. At first, Asuna was fearful that Kirito could have divorced her, but he assured her that he never did anything. Talking it over with the others, Kirito realized that it was a system error, as he could still propose to the other girls. With the aid of Yui, they discovered a quest where they can restore their marriage status.

After reaching the 79th Floor, Kirito and Asuna arrived at a church within town, the site of the quest's beginning. They spoke to a monk who could forge them special rings, if they brought him a special material guarded by a powerful monster. After the pair retrieved the materials and brought it back, the monk crafted them a pair of translucent rings that were the key they need to complete the quest. However, to complete the quest, they needed to visit three other locations while wearing their new rings, and the locations were on separate floors.

The first location to visit was the Lake of Purification on the 82nd Floor, where Kirito and Asuna had to "purify" themselves by both entering the lake's water while being naked. Though reluctant at first, Asuna managed to go into the water with Kirito, under the condition that he would not look at her. Their rings reacted when they both entered the water, and this excited Kirito to the point that he turned around, accidentally looking directly at Asuna. Shortly afterwards, Kirito thought to himself how he was afraid to say that Asuna was beautiful because of how she reacted to the situation.

The next location was discovered by coincidence when Kirito found an ideal log cabin on a floor that reminded him of the 22nd Floor. With Agil's help, they purchased the house and surprised Asuna, who was overflowing with joy upon discovering it. After a brief scene, their rings glowed again, signaling they had found the «Nest of Memories».

The final location was on the 86th Floor, where Kirito and Asuna found a beautiful church. Upon entering, a voice asked if they were here to pledge their love to each other. They were put to the test when a powerful knight-like monster was summoned into the room. After defeating it, they discovered that their rings had not changed, meaning that the final event had yet to be finished. However, after recalling how the voice spoke, they both realized that this was no different from a real wedding ceremony. And, after they kissed each other, their rings changed for the final time, becoming pure silver, signifying that their marriage status was restored.

Relationships

 * See Yuuki Asuna/Relationships

Rapier Skills

 * Linear
 * Oblique
 * Parallel Sting<
 * Shooting Star
 * Triangular
 * Star Splash
 * Flashing Penetrator

Rapier Skills

 * Neutron - A 5-hit combo.
 * Quadruple Pain - A 4-hit combo
 * Flashing Penetrator 

Original Sword Skills

 * Starry Tear - A 5 hit combo.
 * Mother's Rosario - An 11-hit combo (inherited from Yuuki).

Gallery

 * See Yuuki Asuna/Image Gallery

Trivia

 * Asuna was born on September 30, 2007. September 30 is also the birthday of Kuroyukihime of Accel World, another light novel written by Kawahara Reki.
 * Asuna placed second in the Top 10 Female Characters in the Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi! 2012 and 2013 awards and third in 2014. She placed sixth back in 2011, and fourth in 2015.
 * Asuna is one of the two known players using their real name as an In Game Name (IGN), the other being Yuuki.
 * Included in the first Blu-ray/DVD package, is a character song CD sung by Asuna (Tomatsu Haruka), titled «My Independent Destiny». This is the first character song available for this series.
 * In the original web-novel, Asuna did not hesitate to kill Kuradeel, when he began to beg for his life, and in fact stabbed through him. This was changed in the light novel, anime and manga, so that it was Kirito who killed him, after Kuradeel attacks Asuna for her hesitation.
 * The anime depicts Asuna and Kirito having met at the meeting in «Tolbana», rather than in the dungeons, where Kirito informs Asuna about the meeting. Given this, the battle was on the very next day after the meeting, instead of two days after. This means that Kirito never showed Asuna the room he was renting, nor offered her the bath, as in the light novel.
 * In the anime, after the boss battle on the 1st floor, Asuna runs up to Kirito while he is still climbing the stairs, but in the LN, she actually caught up to him while he was sitting idly on the second floor.
 * Asuna once tried to dye her hair to cherry pink in Sword Art Online, but had to disappointingly return it to brown after finding out that the colour did not suit her.
 * The design of Asuna's KoB uniform in SAO was actually chosen by other members, who kept it a secret from her until it was ready. When she first saw her uniform, she rejected it, saying that she could not wear something like it, but after Daizen told her with tears in his eyes that the price of even a single set of the uniform was colossal, she reluctantly agreed to wear it.
 * Asuna has a phobia of astral-type monsters and had used numerous excuses to avoid clearing Labyrinths on horror-themed Aincrad floors.
 * According to the light novel illustrator and character designer abec, the braided part of Asuna's hair is meant to symbolise her good upbringing, while the mussed part is meant to symbolise her demon vice-commander side.
 * In an official character popularity poll hosted by Dengeki Bunko for the cover of abec Art Works, Asuna's SAO avatar ranked first, her Alicization avatar ranked ninth, her Undine avatar ranked fourteenth, while her real life persona ranked thirteenth.

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