Vassago Casals

Vassago Casals (ヴァサゴ・カザルス), known as PoH (プー) in Sword Art Online (SAO) and Project Alicization, is a reoccurring character in the Aincrad Arc and the secondary antagonist of the War of the Underworld sub-arc of the Alicization Arc. He was one of the 10,000 players trapped in Sword Art Online, where he was the leader and founder of the red guild named «Laughing Coffin». His guild was later destroyed by a large force of clearers, but he was neither killed, nor captured during the crusade.

Sword Art Online


PoH wore a dark, hooded poncho that covered him down to his knees, and wielded a Chinese kitchen knife-like dagger, called the «Mate Chopper». Kirito recalls that PoH had an exotic, handsome appearance, as well as an enthusiastic, machine gun-like voice tone. He had ample, black wavy hair and a tattoo on the right side of his face.

Personality
PoH is a cold and sadistic person who spread the idea that, as players would actually be killed by the mechanism of the NerveGear when a player's HP reaches 0, the designer of the mechanism, Kayaba Akihiko, would be the culprit of the murder, thus players had the right to kill other players and enjoy the game. This idea lured and brainwashed several orange players into going on a mad Player Killing craze and led to the first murders in the game.

PoH is also a cool-headed man who rationally analyses the situation, like when he stopped the emotional Johnny Black to hear out Kirito before taking any action and ordered his men to retreat when he heard that Kirito had called for the help of 30 players from the clearers, as well as having drunk an antidote potion in advance and bringing many healing crystals with him.

A Murder Case in the Area


PoH made his first appearance in April, 2024, along with two other guild members, Red-Eyed XaXa and Johnny Black. They were hired by Grimlock to assassinate Schmitt, Caynz and Yolko, who were all members of their old guild, the Golden Apple, as an attempt to cover up the truth behind Griselda's assassination. PoH and his companions were driven off by Kirito, who threatened that he had called for reinforcements from the clearers, making him unable to kill his intended targets.

August, 2024
In August, 2024, Laughing Coffin members were defeated by a force of clearers in a crusade, which would come to be known as the largest death count, with more than 30 players killed in a single fight in Sword Art Online, against the guild. However, the leader of the guild, PoH, was not found in the list of dead or captured people at the end of the battle. PoH's whereabouts after the battle are unknown because there was no sign of him anywhere. However, he is presumed to be alive, as he was not in the list of the dead players.

October, 2024
A couple of months later, PoH watched Kirito and Kuradeel's duel in Kamdet, the main settlement on the 74th Floor, and quietly left after the duel was over. Sometime later, PoH heard that Kuradeel wished to kill Kirito, and thus recruited him into what remained of the Laughing Coffin, even teaching him how to make poisoned water that inflicted paralysis.

{{spoiler|

Alicization Invading
Vassago Casals accompanied Gabriel Miller, Critter, and nine other members of Glowgen Defense Systems' assault team during the attack on the Ocean Turtle. As the main control room's console had been locked before they managed to reach it, Vassago logged into Underworld as a dark knight, along with Gabriel as Vector, in order to acquire Alice Schuberg's light cube via the World End Altar in Underworld.}}

Hollow Fragment
During the events of Hollow Fragment, a Hollow version of PoH could be found in the Hollow Area. He bore the same mark as Kirito, making him a highly credible test player within the Hollow Area and allowing him to use the Administration Area. However, unlike the other AI data players within the Hollow Area, he was created by the collected data of the real PoH's emotional data, and his bloodlust and love of killing gave him a sense of knowledge as to what he was.

Hollow PoH was first seen while Kirito and Philia were traveling together in the «Bridge to Bastia» area. While spying on him and his own fellow Laughing Coffin members, PoH seemingly noticed Kirito and Philia watching nearby but acted like he was oblivious to them. After returning to the Administration Area afterwards, Philia was shocked when she found that PoH had entered the Administration Area himself, and proceeded to speak to her shortly after Kirito left to return to Aincrad. Assuming he was there to kill her, Philia guarded herself but he assured her he was not here to kill her, claiming that he simply wished to talk since they were both "orange" players. PoH tried to persuade her into turning on Kirito and joining him in Laughing Coffin, claiming that she would die if she continues to stay with Kirito.

As Kirito continued to try and help Philia remove her orange cursor, PoH returned and tried to once again convince her to help him. Since Philia continued to ignore PoH's influence, he claimed that they were mere data, rather than "humans", in the Hollow Area and also makes a shocking declaration that if Kirito clears the 100th floor and Aincrad is erased, the Hollow Area will be erased, along with them. PoH claimed that this was only possible because Kirito continued to come to the Hollow Area and, as a result, grew stronger. With this new fear and worry in Philia, PoH asked once more for help, claiming that he would not kill Kirito and all Philia had to do was lure him towards him. With that, he left once more, leaving Philia in disarray.

PoH's words got through to Philia, as she unknowingly aided him in trapping Kirito in a dungeon where warp crystals and messages could not be used, making it a perfect place for PoH killing his victims, since it was full of powerful monsters. After seemingly sending Kirito to his death, PoH went on to execute his plans to use the Hollow Area's main console to start a massive transfer of data from the Hollow Area to Aincrad, which would overwrite the data of all the players with their Hollow data, essentially making the system treat the AI data as the players.

Deep within the previously sealed off area within the Hollow Area, PoH revealed his true motives to Philia, breaking her down to tears that he tricked her into sending Kirito to his death. With him out of the way, PoH would have no one stopping him from enjoying his concept of paradise - slaughtering the other AI data players within the Hollow Area with no end. Seeing no further use for her as she turned on him, PoH proceeded to torture and abuse Philia before deciding to end her life by cutting her head off with his Chopper. But before he could, Kirito suddenly appeared and sliced off his hand, freeing Philia. A battle ensued between Kirito and PoH, with Kirito the victor and the virtual data that was PoH deleted. However, though he was defeated, Kirito and friends still had to stop the massive transfer PoH had set in motion to prevent the re-writing of Aincrad.

Trivia

 * PoH likes saying the English catchphrase, «It's showtime».
 * PoH is a multilingual player who is well versed in at least three languages: English, Japanese, and Spanish.

Gallery

 * See: Vassago Casals/Image Gallery

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