[Krono]

Originally Posted by GDB

So, I went and read a few of the volume 2 short story chapters to supplement the anime (specifically, Red Nosed Reindeer, Black Swordsman, and Warmth of Heart), and had a couple of questions based on them:

Spoiler for First, The Black Swordsman:

Okay, so it's stated in Black Swordsman that the front liners are on the 55th floor at this point. If I'm not mistaken, Kirito got Elucidator from the 50th floor boss, right? So why didn't the anime show him using that sword during Silica's episode? The illustrations for the chapter don't show any swords, so it doesn't have a basis there to say whether he was using it or not.

Spoiler for Response:

IIRC, the author said at some point that he didn't have the stats to use it at the time.

Spoiler for Second, Warmth of Heart:

So, Kirito proclaims that Dark Repulser is his partner now, replacing Elucidator as his primary weapon. Yet the anime showed him using Elucidator up until he was dual wielding. Was this just something the anime threw in so Asuna could be suspicious of him? I haven't read volume 1, so I'm not sure whether that was brought up or not.

Spoiler for Response:

This is just the anime changing things around. As you say, they likely did that to give Asuna additional cause to be suspicious of him, and increase the foreshadowing.