Kayaba Akihiko

is the development director and GM of «Sword Art Online». He is also the designer of the «NerveGear» and the «VR Seed».

Sword Art Online
Heathcliff (ヒースクリフ) is the leader of what is considered to be the «Sword Art Online»'s strongest guild «Knights of the Blood ». He is the owner of the «Unique Skill» «Holy Sword» and is considered to be strongest player in-game. He also was able to hold off the boss of the fiftieth level for ten minutes by himself, which earned him the title «Man of Legend» (伝説の男). It is also rumored in SAO that Heathcliff's health has never gone into the yellow zone. This is due to his identiy being Kayaba Akihiko and being able to make himself invincible or otherwise making his character into a "non-destructable object." Kirito first suspects his true identity during his match against Heathcliff when Kirito sees that Heathcliff's speed is far beyond the system limits. However, Kirito figures out his true identity in the seventy-fifth floor. Thanks to a miracle in the game allowing Kirito to launch one final attack after his HP ran out, Kirito manages to defeat Heathcliff and free the trapped players. He is also one of the 40 alpha testers.

After SAO
He reappears to help Kirito defeat Noboyuki Sugou, and leave Kirito with the Seed. He also stated he tried to copy his mind onto the virtual network so as to be a fully realized being of SAO. He also said they would meet again.

Sword Art Online

 * Level: ?
 * Main Equipment:
 * 「Liberator」 (One Handed Straight Sword and Tower Shield)
 * Skill Slots: ?
 * Equipped Skills:
 * Holy Sword «Unique Skill» - (1000) «Mastered»
 * One Handed Straight Sword - (1000) «Mastered»
 * Hand to Hand Combat - (1000) «Mastered»
 * Heavy Metal Equipment - (1000) «Mastered»
 * Battle Healing - (1000) «Mastered»
 * Searching - (1000) «Mastered»
 * Tracking - (1000) «Mastered»
 * Spirit Light (hate skill) - (1000) «Mastered»
 * «Immortal»