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In the last episode of Aincrad arc of Sword Art Online, how did Asuna survive
even though her avatar disintegrated after being attacked by Kayaba? Also
Kirito was stabbed by Kayaba as well. How did he survive?

Was it in the novel on how they really survived?


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sword-art-online
How did Asuna and Kirito survive?


## Asuna

### Theory 1: Kayaba kept his words to prevent Asuna from comitting suicide

Before the fight, Kirito had requested Kayaba to prevent from Asuna taking her
own life if he was to die, as Asuna threatened to commit suicide if that
happened. Quite possibly, Kayaba had set thing up to ensure that if Asuna went
to kill herself, she wouldn't actually die, confident that he would win (as he
was supposed to be the last boss on the 100th floor).

Otherwise, in [my answer](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/13007/how-
does-kirito-come-back-to-life-when-hes-fighting-heathcliff/13009#13009) to the
[question](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/14035/how-did-asuna-
survived#comment18023_14035) Mysticial linked to, I explain there is a time
delay before the NervGear kills Kirito in the real world. Seeing as Asuna had
in a way killed herself, Kayaba at that point might have prevented Asuna from
dying in the real world and put her in the holding area where she met with
Kirito later. After all, Kayaba was show to have a level of [honor and
fairness](http://swordartonline.wikia.com/wiki/Heathcliff#Personality) and
probably wanted to hold up his end of the deal. Remember that he paralyzed
everyone so no one would get in the duel between him and Kirito, yet he was
surprised to see that Asuna was still able to move.

### Theory 2: Sugou had been keeping Asuna alive

Another possibility is Sugou Nobuyuki. Asuna being in the holding area may
have been a stroke of luck, and Kayaba didn't notice that after SAO was
cleared, Sugou prevented 300 players from waking up for his experiments.
However, this runs off the theory that Asuna was not _just_ one of the 300,
and she was targeted to be isolated and trapped separately.

This is slightly backed up by 2 points:

  1. Sugou did say **he** was keeping Asuna alive, rather than her father who owned the company, and were more likely to use it to look after his daughter

  2. [The wiki](http://swordartonline.wikia.com/wiki/RECT_Inc.#Background) about RECT Progress's background says

> RECT Progress Inc. had set the 1st main goal of ALfheim Online to reach the
> top of the World Tree, but was later found to be impossible to complete. It
> was revealed that the World Tree's actual purpose was to hold the remaining
> 300 prisoners from SAO as test subjects in inhumane experiments.

This would indicate that since the release of ALO, Sugou was waiting for SAO
to be cleared.

## Kirito

As for how Kirito survived, please refer to my answer
[here](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/13007/how-does-kirito-come-
back-to-life-when-hes-fighting-heathcliff/13009#13009). (Originally, this
question only addressed Asuna, and I have only noticed that it's been edited
to address Kirito as well).


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> Divine Stone of Returning Soul (還魂【かんこん】の聖晶石【せいしょうせき】, Kankon no Seishōseki)
> is a unique rare item found in «Sword Art Online» that can be used to revive
> a recently fallen player. The only known way to obtain it was to defeat
> Nicholas The Renegade, the Christmas event boss, during the Christmas Event.

![Divine Stone of Returning Soul](https://i.stack.imgur.com/4bwSi.png)

_Item description and image source:[Sword Art
Wiki](http://swordartonline.wikia.com/wiki/Divine_Stone_of_Returning_Soul)_

I remembered this item was mentioned to have existed within Sword Art Online
and that it was hypothesized that it must obey the laws of the game. Part of
the reason for the delay between a player dying within the game and being
killed by their Nerve Gear in real life, was because there is a chance for
them to be revived within the game. To me this explains why Asuna was able to
live, because the world was 'saved' very soon after her avatar's HP hit zero.

While this could explain why Kirito didn't immediately die after his HP was
zero, it doesn't explain why his avatar was still able to last hit the world
boss after receiving a death blow. I have a hypothesis for this, but this one
is even a larger leap. In Sword Art Online, there are skills known as _Unique
Skills_ which are rewarded to players who satisfy certain conditions. Kirito
had the Dual Swords skill (rewarded to the player with the fastest reaction
time). My hypothesis is that this unique skill could also have a "last stand"
or "last resort" type of skill to get that last hit in or increase DPS for the
user in their final throws which makes sense for a player with the quickest
reaction time in the game.

Another possibility is that Kirito could have earned more than one unique
skill which allowed for his final thrust. The creator of the game stated that
there are 10 unique skills and each one is awarded to the player who satisfies
the condition best in all of SAO. He stated that the 10 unique skills are
awarded to only one player each, but did not say that a single player couldn't
obtain more than one unique skill. Out of the 10 unique skills we know of
these six:

  * «Dual Blades» - given to the player with the fastest reaction time
  * «Holy Sword» - given to the strongest player.
  * «Darkness Blade» (暗黒剣, Ankoku Ken)
  * «Battoujutsu» (抜刀術, lit. "The art of drawing one's sword")
  * «Shurikenjutsu» (手裏剣術, lit. "The art of using a throwing star")
  * «Infinite Spear» (無限槍, Mugen Yari)

This means that there are still 4 unique skills that we don't know the
abilities for, of which one could explain Kirito's ability to briefly
withstand a killing blow.


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2014-09-24T03:26:48.733
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Kirito and Asuna didn't immediately die because the system, Cardinal, was
designed that way. That's why they have the resurrection item like Disgaea
mentioned. There is a delay before the player is killed in the real world,
following his avatar's death.

As to how Kirito can still move after his HP reached 0, it was because of the
Cardinal system's artificial intelligence. Seeing that Kayaba himself was
surprised that Asuna can still move despite being under paralysis status
applied by Kayaba, the GM, thru the system, it is safe to assume that that is
not planned by Kayaba. Being an artificial intelligence system, Cardinal
reacted to Asuna's strong will to protect Kirito.

Now, the same can be said about Kirito killing Kayaba. It was because in his
final moments, Kirito suddenly showed a burst of emotion, strong enough for
the Cardinal to approve that it is of higher priority than his death.


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My theory is a mixture of a lot of the popular ones, but I think what happened
is that, first, Kirito gave the Divine Stone of Returning Soul to Klein.
Kirito said to use it on the first person he saw die, and either that first
person was Kirito, (Can't remember the order of the episodes) or he saved it,
and used it on Kirito, bringing him back to give the final blow.

As for Asuna, I think that Sugou prevented her death. We know that he said
that he was keeping her alive, and that she was one of the 300 that didn't
wake up. Sugou must have stopped her NerveGear from killing her somehow, but
how he did is unknown to me. We know that he planned to marry her without her
consent, while she was trapped in the game, and that he works at RECT, so,
after saving her from dying, he trapped her in a separate game, ALO. That way,
Asuna is still alive, and still asleep.

To me, this makes the most sense, but if there is something I'm missing,
please tell me.


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The reason they didn't die is because it takes some time between the moment
you die in game and the moment your brain is fried in real life. If you recall
the scene where Kirito looked at the menu to find "[Executing the Final Phase,
54% completed]", the "Final Phase" was meant to be death in real life.

From _Volume 1 - Chapter 24_ :

> But the window contained neither an avatar nor a menu list. The blank screen
> showed only the message [Executing the Final Phase, 54% completed]. As I
> stared at it, the number went up to 55%. I had originally thought that my
> mind would die alongside the destruction of my body, but what was going on
> here?

But of course, he cleared the game in time to be logged out before the Final
Phase was complete.

The item Kirito got from the Christmas Event was the 10 Second Revival Item,
which also backs up why it took time before dying. The delay gave them a
chance to be revived, and the Nerve Gear had to charge up to fry the brain.


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2015-02-27T21:14:39.993
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This is quite well-explained in the manga.

[![](https://i.stack.imgur.com/6CyPM.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/6CyPM.png)
[![](https://i.stack.imgur.com/bS3NJ.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/bS3NJ.png)

As he was dying, he said to himself "The system might be telling me to get
lost, but **I'm not listening! I'm still here! I'm still alive!** ", denying
the system's control over his existence, and more or less breaking the
limitation imposed on him.

Also, in the first season episode 24 _Gilded Hero_ , at the end of ALfheim
arc, the gravity magic used on Kirito didn't end, but like he did in the
battle against Heathcliff, he again denied the system and stood up with his
willpower.


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There are no theories, because there is a real explanation for this topic.
Although, I suppose you remember he bears the "Divine Stone of Returning
Soul," yes? The item may be used to resurrect yourself during the 10 second
delay before the system has told you "You Have Died." An explanation for his
awesome matrix-like ability to come back and see Heathcliff's face for the
last time would be the usage of the own human will. Yes, it may sound stupid,
but really. It says in the manga. Kirito has so determined to end the virtual
world of SAO, that he had to destroy the system to revive himself.


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Sugou released Asuna from paralysis in the final moments so she would run to
Kirito, as he knew she would. Sugou lifted his sword in anticipation as Asuna
darted to Kirito, then struck her dead. Kirito was killed, however I think
Klein used the revival item on him, but also, Kirito used Asuna's sword for
the kill, so perhaps Asuna's sword became Kirito's and gave him some sort of
ability.


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2016-04-29T18:08:24.720
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Do you guys know accel world? It's from the same author as Sao. In the accel
world series threre appears something called incarnation System. It means that
if you can imagine something hard enough, the system will accept this image
has reality instead of what really happend. So in my opinion kirito used some
Kind of incarnation System, with what he just overpowered the Kardinal System
in the case that he kinda revives himself

Btw accel world and Sao play in the same Universe, so this should be possible,
right? :)


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