«Vertical Square» (バーチカル・スクエア, Bāchikaru Sukuea?) is a 4-hit Combo One-Handed Sword category Sword Skill in Sword Art Online, New ALfheim Online and Project Alicization.
Description[]
«Vertical Square» is activated with a powerful stamp.[1] The first strike of this Sword Skill is a vertical slash[2] from an overhead position[3] with little backward motion,[2] similar to the 1-hit «Vertical».[4][1] This slash is followed by two upward vertical slashes.[1] Finally, the skill is concluded with a full-power downward slash[1] from an overhead position.[2] Similarly to the «Horizontal Square», a square, drawn with the four hits of this skill, continues to spin as it dissipates.[3]
Usage[]
| Instance | Description | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Light Novel | Anime | Manga | |
| Volume 1, Chapter 9 | Episode 08 | Aincrad Manga Stage.004 | A Demonic Servant used this skill against Asuna, but missed every single hit. |
| Volume 1, Chapter 9 | Episode 08 | Aincrad Manga Stage.004 | Kirito attacked the Demonic Servant with this skill after it was temporarily stunned by blocking Asuna's last Star Splash hit. |
| Volume 5, Chapter 6 | SII Episode 04 | Phantom Bullet Manga Stage.006 | Kirito performed the skill without the system assistance when he tested his newly-bought Kagemitsu G4. |
| Volume 8, Calibur, Part 3 | N/A | Calibur Manga Chapter 1 | Vertical Square was one of the Sword Skills that Kirito chained while fighting against the Golden Minotaurus. |
| Volume 7, Chapter 6 | SII Episode 20 | Mother's Rosario Manga Stage.006 | Yuuki used this skill against a Gnome player who was blocking the way to the 27th Floor Labyrinth's boss room. The Gnome was blown several meters away and his hit points dropped to the red zone after he was hit with this skill. |
| Volume 10, Chapter 4, Part 4 | Alicization Episode 07 | Kirito performed this Sword Skill while testing out the capabilities of his new sword. | |
| Volume 10, Chapter 4, Part 5 | Alicization Episode 08 | Kirito used this Sword Skill to counter Volo Levantein's Avalanche. | |
| Volume 14, Chapter 13, Part 5 | Alicization Episode 24 | Quinella used the skill against Kirito, though Kirito managed to dodge or block three of the hits and was only slightly cut on the left side of his chest with the third hit. | |
Trivia[]
- Vertical Square is one of Kirito's favourite Sword Skills.[3]
- The first season of the anime portrays Vertical Square as more of a diagonal or even horizontal square, despite it having "vertical" in its name.
- In the anime adaptation of Calibur, Kirito used Horizontal Square instead of Vertical Square.[5]
- A modified version of «Vertical Square» was included in the updated version of «Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax», known as «Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax Ignition», as a special move used by Konno Yuuki.[6]