Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-68.5.216.252-20151123232331/@comment-6697950-20180709080937

1. Yes, Kirito and Klein died in that battle. Their only goal was to buy time, not defeat an entire guild. That's why when the boss room doors opened, we saw the guild entering the room, rather than Kirito and Klein.

2. Dying doesn't mean that you start over from zero or that you lose all your items. You lose some experience points and have a chance of losing SOME of your items, not all. And the latter only happens if you defeat everyone in the party. Which means that Kirito wouldn't necessarily lose his weapon if he dies.

3. He wasn't using Excalibur against Yuuki. He only uses it in emergencies, not regular duels.

4. No, he wasn't proven to be the strongest swordsman. He was defeated or barely avoided defeat numerous times in the series.