Death Battle Predictions: Kirigaya "Kirito" Kazuto vs Eren Jaeger- Sword Art Online vs Attack on Titan

I know I said I would do this BEFORE the blog about Marisa but I forgot. So I'm doing this now instead. I am just going to directly copy-paste my blog about Kirito in though (Sorry for the laziness, but I did intend for it to be used so god damn it, I'm gonna use it.)

So yeah. Kirito vs Eren. Widely requested, and people claim Eren stomps. Is it as stompy as one might think, though...? Let's find out. I'm assuming Kirito is using his new ALO avatar, with SAO Sword Skills.

JUST A WARNING: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS FOR BOTH SWORD ART ONLINE AND ATTACK ON TITAN! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

KIRITO

BACKSTORY

In the year 2022, a new VRMMORPG was introduced to save the dying MMORPG genre of games. This game was Sword Art Online (SAO), created by one Kayaba Akihiko. Using a piece of technology called the Nervegear, the user would completely immerse themselves in the game, utilizing their senses to control their ingame character. Naturally, SAO become a big hit during the Beta Test. On November 6th, 10,000 players log into SAO to find out that they are unable to log out, and that in order to escape, they must beat the boss of Floor 100 of Aincrad. There was also another, deadlier twist: If a player dies in-game or has the Nervegear forcibly removed, the Nervegear will fry their brain, killing them.

Amongst these 10,000 trapped players was one Kirigaya Kazuto, going by Kirito in-game. He was a Beta Tester for the game, and, to avoid other Beta Testers getting discriminated against for the actions of ones who hope only to benefit themselves, he isolates himself and dons the title 'Beater' (A mix between Beta Tester and Cheater). The players progress through the game and Kirito eventually ends up befriending one Asuna Yuuki, who he eventually falls in love with and marries in-game.

On Floor 75, Kirito outs the leader of the Knights of the Blood Oath, Heathcliff, to be Kayaba in disguise, and defeats him in a duel, clearing SAO and freeing the survivors.

However, 300 players had not woken up, despite the fact that they should have, including Asuna. Upon seeing an image of someone who appeared to be Asuna in another VRMMORPG, Alfheim Online, Kirito heads there to investigate, eventually uncovering and foiling the plot of one Nobuyuki Sugou to create mind-control technology, which was being tested on the 300 trapped players, who were all freed, as well as reconciling with his adoptive sister/cousin Suguha, who he had begun to isolate himself from due to learning they weren't actually brother and sister.

Some time later, Kirito agrees to assist in the investigation of the 'Death Gun' incident, which had a player in the VRMMORPG Gun Gale Online named Death Gun shooting players in-game only for them to die in real life. Assisted by a female player called Sinon, Kirito eventually uncovers the truth about the case, and two of the three culprits are arrested. The third manages to escape.

This proves to bite Kirito back hard, as at some point after this, Kirito is attacked by that very same person, and injected with a lethal injection. Medics manage to save his life, but his memory is damaged, so he is put into the Soul Translator's new VRMMORPG, Underworld, to recover. He eventually recovers his memories and puts a stop to Johnny Black (His attacker), and PoH (One of his accomplices) who had been terrorizing Underworld.

PERSONALITY

Kirito is not good with words. He's blunt and not afraid to speak his mind, and sometimes enjoys teasing others and being somewhat rude. He is also susceptible to the occasional bout of overconfidence. He's most often calm and collected, but he is a fierce opponent in battle- sometimes fierce enough that he doesn't remember what he did in battle, once the battle ends. Kirito, however, is a kind person and refuses to abandon those in need, only strengthened with the demise of the Moonlit Black Cats, his first guild. Kirito is also prone to letting his emotions control him. Most notably, the deaths of Moonlit Black Cats haunted Kirito until he married Asuna, and this worries his friends, as Kirito is someone who would let their life be ruined by guilt if not comforted.

Above all else though, Kirito has an incredibly strong resolve, and will work to do anything he sets his mind to, even if it's impossible. Most notably when Yui, his in-game adoptive daughter (who's also an AI) with Asuna, confirmed that Asuna was at the top of the World Tree, Kirito just rushed in and attempted to reach the top, despite finding the task to be impossible.

ABILITIES

Due to the nature of Kirito's abilities, and him being inside video games for most of his feats, The best way to look at his abilities is by game, but first the constants should be what he carries in between games. Most notably his Outside System Skills, which are techniques performed outside the usual means of the games. Kirito's first Outside System Skill is Arms Blast, with which he can break an opponent's weapon by striking its weak point. Next, there's Spell Blast, which allows Kirito to cut through magic. Bullet Deflect allows Kirito to stop Bullets with his sword, Distinguish allows Kirito to isolate sounds in a VR space, focusing only irregular sounds. Hypersense is a skill which allows Kirito to sense peoples' presence through their killing intent. Lastly, in order to make up for the fact that the <Dual Blades> skill doesn't exist in ALO, he created Skill Connect, which allows him to chain multiple One-Handed Sword Skills together while wielding two swords. Kirito is also capable of using Sword Skill Imitation to recreate Sword Skills from SAO and ALO without assistance from the system, as he demonstrated in GGO with <Horizontal Square>.

Next, let's look at his Sword Skills from SAO. Kirito has a wide variety of Sword Skills,

Kirito, having a complete mastery over 1-Handed Straight Sword skills, likely knows any and all known Skills of said Category. He also has some skill in Martial Arts, Battle Healing, Stealth, Tracking and... Fishing? 

In SAO, he also has the Extra Skill Dual Blades, with which he can use dual-wielding Sword techniques.

Here is a list of  the skills that Kirito should know, although he has not demonstrated all of them:

Vertical, Horizontal and Slant: A simple vertical, horizontal or diagonal slash respectively.

Uppercut: An upwards slash meant to sent foes skywards.

Vertical Arc: A two-hit combo of slashes in a V-Shape. Kirito uses this to defeat Illfang the Kobold Lord. There is also Horizontal Arc, which is the horizontal variant of it.

Serration Wave: An AoE Sword Skill meant to hinder movement. It does very little damage. 

Lightning Fall: An AoE Sword Skill where the user backflips before thrusting their sword into the ground, creating a wave of electricity to stun foes.

Rage Spike: A swift Sword Skill where the user leaps at the foe and performs an upwards strike.

Sonic Leap: A Sword Skill similar to Rage Spike where the user leaps at the foe. This one performs a downwards strike and has a shorter range, but it can be aimed upwards.

Snake Bite: A two-hit combo going from right to left then back again, which is effective at shattering weapons.

Savage Fulcrum: A three hit combo which looks somewhat like the number 4.

Vorpal Strike: Another Charge-type Sword Skill, in this case a single high-speed thrust with a range over twice the length of the blade used.

Sharp Nail: A three-hit combo going right-to left diagonally upwards, then left-to-right, then right-to-left diagonally downwards.

Howling Octave: An eight-hit combo starting with five thrusts, then a downwards swing, then an upwards swing, then a final overhead swing.

Horizontal Square and Vertical Square: Four-hit comboes that trace the look of a square.

Embracer: A simple martial arts technique performing a thrust with the user's hand. Kirito uses this to kill Kuradeel.

Senda: A swift, single-strike uppercut, given by the Martial Arts skill. Kirito uses this in Progressive.

Meteor Fall: A two-hit combo making use of both a One-Handed Sword and Martial Arts skills. The user throws their sword up in the air, then delivers a terribly fast punch to the target's chest, knocking them backwards, before jumping, catching their sword and slashing with it. Kirito uses this in Versus, in a battle against Accel World's Silver Crow.

Meteor Break: A seven-hit combo making usage of One-Handed Sword and Martial Arts skills.

Deadly Sins: A seven-hit One-handed Sword combo making featuring various directional slashes and backwards flips. Kirito uses this in the Caliber Arc in conjunction with Spell Blast to protect Asuna and the Sleeping Knights.

Battle Healing: A passive skill that Kirito has, which regenerates his HP during battle. He demonstrates this when protecting Silica from the Titan's Hand guild, regenerating off any damage they inflicted on him.

Flight: In ALO, Kirito is capable of flying. This used to have a time limit, but this was removed after the Fairy Dance Arc.

Illusion Magic: As a Spriggan, Kirito can create illusions using his magic. Most notably, he used an advanced form of Illusion Magic to temporarily become the Gleam Eyes to take down a group of Salamanders who were previously stonewalling him.

Armament Full Control Art: In Underworld, Divine Intstrument Type Weapons can have their full power released by this ritual, which comes in two phases: Strengthening and Releasing. The second part is the part Kirito uses most often, as it comes out very quickly (The way to trigger it is to say "Release Recollection".).

These last two deserve links of their own.

Starburst Stream: A 16-hit Dual Blades combo. Kirito most famously uses this against the Gleam Eyes to defeat it in a single go.

The Eclipse (Timestamp 0:57): The ultimate Dual Blades Combo, clocking in at 27 hits. Kirito used this against Heathcliff, but due to Heathcliff being Kayaba, perfectly predicts and blocks every last one of Kirito's attacks.

EQUIPMENT

Kirito's equipment varies with what game he's in. In Sword Art Online, Kirito Dual-Wields the Elucidator, a Demonic Boss Drop from the 50th Floor, and the Dark Repulser, which was made by Lizbeth, one of Kirito's friends. Both the Elucidator and Dark Repulser boost Kirito's Strength and Agility. He also wears the Blackwyrm Coat, which enhances his Stealth Skill.

In ALO (Which we will be using in this matchup), he wields a Black Iron Long Sword (Again made by Lizbeth) and the Holy Sword Excaliber (The strongest weapon in ALO). 

In GGO, He wields a Kagemitsu G4 Photon Sword (Basically a Lightsaber, except a bit weaker) and a FN Five-Seven Pistol.

In Underworld, He has wielded multiple swords, but his main weapon is the Night Sky Sword, a weapon crafted from a branch of the Gigas Cedar tree. While it has a variety of abilities credited to it, he has two main powers from it, the first is to fire off an energy blast from it, via a Armament Full Control Art, But it also allowed Kirito to, in the climax of the Alicization Arc, turn PoH into a tree, imprisoning him in Underworld for eternity. Ouch.

His other weapon in Alicization is the Blue Rose Sword of his dead buddy Eugeo. Its Armament Full Control Art allows Kirito to freeze foes nearby while also draining their HP over time. Kirito can also absorb the energy drained from his enemies into his Night Sky Sword.

FEATS AND WEAKNESSES

Kirito's got some pretty damn impressive feats inside the games. Even without the prediction lines of GGO being effective, he's capable of stopping bullets, and sniper rounds at that. Most notably, in his fight with Sinon. He's powerful enough to one-shot the Gleam Eyes with Starburst Stream, tough enough to survive being impaled, or even better, withstand Yuuki's OSS, Mother's Rosario. For reference, Mother's Rosario can do this. can move at supersonic speeds, and his fight with Alice in Alicization was so intense it blew a hole in the battlefield which Kirito and Alice were promptly sucked out of. And of course, with the Blue Rose Sword and Night Sky Sword, Kirito can immobilize most anyone (As 30,000+ Korean and Chinese players found out the hard way) or of course, just turn 'em into a tree (As PoH learned the hard way. He's still trapped as a tree). He's also capable of dodging a sniper round from merely a few feet away, no prediction lines needed! Said sniper round was travelling at mach 2.6. This easily places him beyond supersonic speeds. He's skilled enough with a sword that, even in real life, he's capable of giving his cousin Suguha trouble in a Kendo match despite severe muscle atrophy due to not partaking in any real life physical activity for over two years.

However, Kirito is not perfect. As stated, he is controlled by his emotions a lot. If he's angry, he'll rush in blindly swords swinging. If he's upset, he might completely lose the will to fight and become sloppy. While Kirito, without a doubt, has the highest DPS of the entirety of Sword Art Online, he's also kind of frail compared to tanks- although this may or may not be the case. He was capable of blocking the attacks of the Skull Reaper when dedicated tanks weren't. On top of this, he's kind of helpless without his weapons. He does have Martial Arts skills, but he doesn't use them much. He's best using a sword. Also, a lot of his best combat feats rely on his teammates' help, although he usually does the most damage out of all of them.

EREN

BACKSTORY

Born in Shiganshina District in the year 835, Eren lead a mostly peaceful life for the first few years of his life, admiring the Survey Corps, people who ventured outside of the Walls to explore the world, despite the threat of the Titans, giant, man-eating monsters who forced Humanity to hide within the walls in the first place. At age 9, Eren scored his first blood not against a Titan, but a group of human traffickers who had kidnapped one Mikasa Ackerman, killing two of them before being blindsided by the third (whom Misaka then killed).

However, in the year 845, when Eren was just ten years old, disaster struck. Wall Maria was breached by the Colossal Titan, and the Shiganshina District destroyed. Eren and co. are saved, but Eren loses his mother in the crisis. Enraged and distraught, Eren vowed to kill all the Titans. After this, Eren was brought to the Reiss Chapel, and met up with his father, Grisha, who murders the entire Reiss Family except for two, steals the Coordinate and finally lets Eren devour him, granting Eren the powers of a Titan Shifter and the Coordinate. After this, Eren and co. spend a few years working on a farm before reaching the legal age to join the military. After gruelling training, at the age of 15, Eren graduates in the top 10 of his class, and is ordered to clean the cannons atop Wall Rose. At this point, the Colossal Titan returns and Eren is forced to face it alone. He tries and fails to kill the titan, though. After sacrificing himself to save Armin, Eren finally awakens his Titan Shifting Powers: With his Alias being the Rogue Titan. After saving Trost from the Titan threat using his powers, Eren taken into the Survey Corps and brought on an expidition outside of the Walls. However, he was defeated and almost captured by the Female Titan, another special titan, until Levi and Mikasa intervened and rescued him. The Female Titan later turned out to be Annie Leonhart, one of Eren's classmates, who Eren eventually assisted in capturing. 

However, the problems did not stop there. Shortly after the Female Titan's defeat, Reiner and Bertolt reveal their identities as the Armored and Colossal Titans respectively, and attempt to capture Eren, and they eventually succeeded after overwhelming Eren in his titan form. He was eventually rescued by his allies at the Survey corps, but at the cost of Hannes, the man who saved Eren in the first place. It was here where Eren unknowingly used his powers as Coordinate for the first time. After this, under Levi's guidance, the group comes up with a plan to retake Wall Maria by using the hardening ability that Annie used. However, testing ground to a halt as Eren's Titan Form deteriorated over repeated use.Unfortunately, after this Eren is captured alongside one Historia Reiss (Formerly known as Krista) and revealed the truth about his powers. Eren then fights off Rod Reiss who artificially transformed into a titan using a special Serum, and Eren uses a serum to gain the hardening ability to combat this. Eventually, with the assistance of the Survey Corps, Rod Reiss is eventually killed. After this, the Survey Corps takes on the mission to retake Wall Maria and, using his newfound hardening powers, Eren sealed the breach that the Colossal Titan had made. The team then battle Bertolt and Reiner. The two titans are eventually defeated, although Erwin ends up dead and Armin ends up becoming a Titan Shifter.

PERSONALITY

Eren is best described as impulsive, hardheaded, strong-willed and passionate. He has a lack of self-restraint which also extends to his temper: Eren gets angry VERY easily and at worst flies into a murderous rage, leading to Eren getting very, VERY violent, as best evidenced by his gruesome murder of human traffickers. His biggest trait is his hatred towards Titans: He has vowed to kill every single titan in existence. When confronted with the truth that his old friends Reiner and Bertolt were the Armored and Colossal Titans, Eren immediately vowed to kill them brutally, despite their past together. However, if he finds himself in a situation where he cannot do anything, he will quickly lose confidence. In his Titan Form, Eren becomes even MORE bloodthirsty and savage.

ABILITIES AND EQUIPMENT

Eren, being a Titan Shifter, naturally possesses incredibly potent regenerative qualities, enough to easily repair lost limbs. And of course, he also has the ability to transform into a Titan. Eren's Titan Form typically takes on the form of a muscular 15 meter tall Titan (like what you see in the image for this section!), granting him incredible strength, enhancing his speed to easily superhuman levels, and his durability. He also possesses a hardening ability, allowing him to harden his skin to increase resistance to damage and to allow him to hit harder- however he can become overwhelmed if he uses the hardening too much, which will weaken him. His other ability is as the Coordinate, which allows him to command Titans. In the 1v1 situation of a Death Battle, however, this ability will not be useful at all.

EQUIPMENT

Eren wields the Vertical Maneuver Equipment, otherwise known as the 3D Maneuver Gear, designed for moving around in a 3D plane to fight Titans. This comes with three main parts: A gas-powered booster, twin grappling hooks and blades made from ultrahard steel designed for slicing through the flesh of Titans. The gas-powered booster is powerful enough that, even without the grappling hooks, it can allow temporary hovering, albeit for a very limited time. Typically, usage of the 3DMG's grappling hooks is to utilise the momentum of the user to deliver devastating blows and make sharp turns throughout rough terrain, as well as moving faster than Titans, obviously.

FEATS AND WEAKNESSES

Eren has some excellent displays of strength, although his absolute best would be carrying the 700 ton boulder with which he sealed the hole in Wall Rose. When hardened, his punches can break through the armor of the Armored Titan. He can tank being slammed through buildings by the Armored Titan. Eren is fast enough to keep pace with the Female Titan, who can move faster than Survey Corps Horses. This means Eren can move at least 70/80 km/h or about 20 m/s.

However, Eren has his weaknesses. Repeated and prolonged use of his Titan Form risks him being permanently fused to the Titan Body, as well as his Titan Form weakening over time in both power and intelligence. On top of this, Eren is INCREDIBLY reckless. He often charges into battle head-first, relying on nothing but his ferocity and brute strength to win. This has gotten Eren into trouble more than it has gotten him out of it. His Titan Form only exaggerates these issues. On top of this, Eren's Titan Form has a weak point at the nape of his neck, and, if the nape is cut open, the Titan Form essentially loses its power, and the human body within becomes visible and vulnerable. ON TOP OF THAT, despite being ultrahard steel, the blades used by the Survey Corps more often than not shatter upon contact with a hard substance like a hardened titan's skin.

OVERVIEW

Eren

+Titan Eren is stronger and more durable than Kirito is.

+His healing factor should keep him in the fight for longer.

+Hardening proves to be an effective defense.

       =However, overuse will leave him vulnerable.

-Hopelessly outclassed by Kirito in human form.

-Even in Titan Form, is MANY times slower than Kirito is.

-Weapons will more likely than not be destroyed by Kirito's due to a combination of their frailty and Kirito's Arms Blast skill.

-Titan Form has a time limit if Eren does not want to become permanently fused to the Titan Body.

-Recklessness proves to be a massive disadvantage against the more level-headed and clever Kirito. He won't be smart enough to manipulate Kirito's emotions, either.

Kirito

+Hopelessly outclasses Eren's base form.

+Even against Titan Eren, is far faster than Eren is. At least thirty times so.

+Can shatter Eren's weapons via Arms Blast, more effective thanks to said weapons' general frailty.

+Even if he can't pinpoint the Titan Form's weakness, he can effectively stall out the form to the point where Eren is forced to eject so he doesn't fuse with the body, and is smart enough to do so. Eren is not clever enough to manipulate Kirito's emotion, while Kirito CAN take advantage of Eren's recklessness.

-Weaker and more frail than Titan Eren.

-Healing Factor is inferior to Eren's.

-Fewer defensive options outside of just dodging.

THE VERDICT

The verdict here is that, while Eren has the strength and durability advantage in his Titan Form, it's not by so much that Kirito cannot compensate with other advantages: and BOY, DOES KIRITO COMPENSATE. Namely his speed advantage: In a realistic fight, Eren is never going to hit Kirito, with his incredible speed. Again, Titan Eren going top speed is only about 20 m/s, whereas Kirito's reaction speed tops out at things moving at 780 m/s, over thirty times faster. This, compounded with the fact that, since Eren does not want to fuse with the Titan Body permanently (That would end in him becoming the very thing he hates the most forever, which is a fate WORSE than death), he's stuck on a time limit, means that even though Eren has the advantage in his Titan Form, his time in the form is limited, thus the impact it has on the battle is negligble due to Kirito's speed and intelligence advantage. Speaking of, Kirito only becomes reckless if he becomes angry or upset. Eren is not smart enough to try to manipulate Kirito's emotions, meaning Eren cannot goad Kirito into making a mistake. Realistically speaking, there's just no way for Eren to take Kirito down before all his options are exhausted, at which point he's easy pickings for Kirito. That's not even taking into account the mobility advantage Kirito gains from his flight, nor his magic's ability to blind Eren- Kirito honestly doesn't need it. Human Eren is no threat to him and he's fast and smart enough to avoid Titan Eren.

Kirito was certainly the sharper combatant in this fight.

The winner is Kirito.

Thank you for reading! I would appreciate it if you gave me feedback, regardless of what the feedback is (As long as it's, y'know, constructive).