[c933103]

Originally Posted by Masuzu

I'll drop the <<emphasis>> for now.

Regrding what's been said about Kirito actually being stronger than Heathcliff I think this actually should have been the case, but Kawahara Reki messed it up.

In their first fight Kirito was clearly stronger, and I fully expected him to beat Heathcliff in even more decisive manner during their second fight since Heathcliff disengaged over-assist.

We all know, however, that this is not what happened.

What happened was Kawahara Reki totally flipped over what was established in the first fight and made it so that Heathcliff not only never really needed the over-assist but Kirito couldn't even hit him. All Kirito's attacks were blocked then parried and Asuna saved him from getting killed...then he got killed anyway.

You could say that Heathcliff was killed anyway, and he totally was...but with a smile and literlly zero resistance. He literally just looked at Kirito and got stabbed.

I don't know exactly what Kawahara Reki was thinking at the time, but what can be concluded is that he decided to throw out the original idea of Kirito actually being stronger than Heathcliff and at the very end flipped it on its head with Heathcliff so far unchallenged as strongest since he never fought again.

On another note I did say that Heathcliff is probably stronger than even Yuuki, and that's because Kirito couldn't beat Heathcliff even if his life literally depended on it regardless of Dual Wielding which most likely Yuuki can't beat unless she pulls out her own Dual Wielding...and then when Heathcliff pulls out Dual Wielding I have no idea.

Hadn't it be made clear that it is due to difference on amount of knowledge?

For comparison remember that Kirito's last duel with Yuuki was described as an epic long battle whereas Kirito's fight with Death Gun was hopeless and took Death Gun neither time nor effort to beat Kirito until he pulled out Dual Wielding. (sort of)

Underworld is kind of a mixed bag. On one hand you have Kirito calling everyone and everyone's grandma stronger than him...and then proving the exact opposite. We see this when he seemingly gets manhandled by Alice and then all of a sudden his countenance changes and she's beaten in one move...though since the whole point of them being there was to save her she escapes getting killed and you know the rest.

...Really?