Dual-Wield

**Dual-Wield** (二刀流, *Nitōryū*, lit. "Two Sword Style") is a Unique Skill that belongs to Kirito in Sword Art Online. The skill allows the use of unique Sword Skills that are executed with two blades simultaneously.

## Known Techniques

* Cross Block: Defensive skill.
* Double Circular: 2-hit Combo.
* Starburst Stream: 21-hit Combo.
* The Eclipse: 27-hit Combo.

## Bonus Stats

* Attack Speed Bonus: 1.80x.
* Weapon Defense Bonus: 1.50x.
* Cooldown Time Bonus: 1.20x.

## Synopsis

### Aincrad Arc

#### Pre-Episode 8

At some point after defeating Titan's Hand, Kirito noticed the Dual-Wield skill in his stats, without any knowledge on how it got there (although noting that it appeared after he had fought a member of the Titan's Hand who wielded Dual-Axes). ​​Sometime after the Kirito is Always Right Foundation Grand Re-Opening, Kirito finally decided to get a second sword to match his Elucidator for his Dual-Wield skill, which he called Sunlight Heart.

#### Episode 8

After seeing Corvatz killed in the hands of the Floor 74 boss, The Gleam Eyes, Kirito tried to brush it off, but then attacked it with frenzied rage when it tried to kill the remaining Guild members. Kirito was then forced to reveal his Dual-Wielding skill to combat the giant goat demon. Kirito then proceeded to have a psychotic outbreak and rant about his hatred for humanity and activated the 21-hit Dual-Wield skill Starburst Stream. The battle ended with Kirito slaying The Gleam Eyes at one HP.

#### Episode 9

After challenging Heathcliff to a duel, Kirito drew his 2 swords and prepared to use his Dual-Wield ability to launch a series of attacks on his opponent, but was knocked out 4 seconds after the duel started due to Heathcliff utilizing cheat codes as a Gamemaster.

#### Episode 10

While escorting Yulier, Yui commented about how Asuna was scary. Kirito, mistaking that she said "Gary," had another psychotic outbreak and slaughtered a bunch of nearby frogs with his Dual-Wield skill, to Yui's delight. He later used Dual-Wield while attempting to fight the Floor 1 secret dungeon boss, The Fatal Scythe, with Asuna, but was easily swatted aside and knocked to the ground.

#### Episode 11

Kirito joined Heathcliff's clearing party to take out the Floor 75 boss. The party was ambushed by the boss, The Skull Reaper. who leaped from the ceiling, and took out 2 players in one hit with a swipe. Kirito prepared to battle the boss with Dual-Wield, but this was proved to be pointless, as the boss glitched out of the game without taking any damage and left the party trapped in the boss room. While sitting around, waiting for the doors to open, Kirito managed to deduce that Heathcliff, was in fact Kayaba Akihiko, the man who trapped the 10,000 players in Sword Art Online, and attacked him, revealing that his health was set to Immortal Object. Kirito then challenged Heathcliff again and while battling him, activated the 27-hit sword skill The Eclipse, which resulted in his 2nd Sword, Sunlight Heart, breaking against Heathcliff's shield.

## Trivia

* In the original series, Kayaba Akihiko stated that the Dual-Blades skill was given to the player with the fastest reaction time. This has yet to be confirmed in the Abridged Series.
	+ Kirito mentions that the skill appeared after he fought a member of the Titan's Hand who dual-wielded axes.
* The Dual-Wield skill is not required to dual-wield weapons. It only allows players to use special sword skills more powerful than an average sword skill.