Knights of the Blood

The «**Knights of the Blood**» (血盟騎士団, *Ketsumei Kishidan*?) was a medium-sized high-level clearing guild and the most powerful guild in «Sword Art Online». Consisting of about thirty high-leveled members who are all greatly experienced in battle, the guild was acknowledged as the lead guild in SAO. Their uniforms were styled in red and white to symbolize their guild.

The «Knights of the Blood» was remade in «ALfheim Online» by Asuna (which inevitably carried over to «Spell Blade Online»), on the urging of Kirito. They eventually became one of the strongest and most diverse interracial guilds in the game.

## Background

After the boss battle on the 25th Floor, the clearing group sustained major casualties due to the boss of the Floor being stronger than expected, as well as the «Aincrad Liberation Squad» (ALS) rushing into the boss battle after having been given false information about the boss. After the battle, the Clearer size was reduced to two-thirds of its original size due to a large number of deaths and the remaining ALS members leaving the front lines. Therefore, the outcome of the battle put the clearing group into a state of great despair.

At this point, the need for a new guild leading the battle and motivating the players on the front arose, and the «Knights of the Blood» was formed, with its leader, Heathcliff, personally inviting the first members. Proudly marching in at the time of the first field boss strategy meeting on the 26th Floor with customized white and red equipment with Asuna, his second-in-command, and Shiranami, his third-in-command, standing at the head of the group, the newly-formed guild greatly increased the morale of the clearing group and has stood at the front lines ever since.

## Base

Their base is located in the 55th Floor living area, a city known as the steel city «Granzam». Their headquarters is a huge steel tower with silver spears above the gate and white flags with red crosses swaying in the wind (red flags with white/bronze swords in the anime).

Following the loss of both the guild founder and leader as well as the second-in-command, Shiranami, being the third-in-command, naturally became the new leader and elected to move the base of the guild to the city of «Arc Sophia» on the 76th Floor, citing that everyone needed time to recover from the disaster of the 75th Floor and that moving the base was a necessary first step. In the final months of SAO, the base of the guild was moved again to the main settlement of the 92nd Floor, Mishu'hem.*[citation needed]*

## Trivia

* Although Heathcliff is the official leader of the guild, he has almost always left his sub-leaders in charge, namely «The Lightning Flash», Asuna and «Snow White Songstress», Shiranami, even during Floor Boss strategy meetings and a planned raid on the Laughing Coffin guild.*[citation needed]*
* The guild itself has a white and red motif similar to the Knights Templar and, like the Knights Templar, they also have a Red Cross for a symbol.

## Notes

1. ↑ Also referred to as **Second-in-Command** (次将, *Jishō*?) or just **Second** (二番, *Niban*?).
2. ↑ Also referred to as shortened to **Third-in-Command** (三次将, *Sanjishō*?) or **Assistant Second** (二番助手, *Niban Joshu*?).
3. ↑ Formerly the leader of Team B.
4. ↑ Formerly the leader of Team D.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 *Amelioration of Despair*
2. ↑ Volume 1, Memories of Evil, Part 5
3. ↑ Volume 2, *Heroine's Elegy*, Part 2
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 Volume 1, *Memories of Evil*, Part 1
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Volume 1, *The Torch's Inheritance*, Part 7
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Volume 2, *The Princess' Seclusion*, Part 4
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Volume 1, *Heroine's Elegy*, Part 1
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Volume 1, *Memories of Evil*, Part 8
9. ↑ Volume 1, *Memories of Evil*, Part 6
10. ↑ Volume 1, *Dawn Romance*, Part 3
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Volume 2, *The Princess' Seclusion*, Part 1
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Volume 1, *Memories of Evil*, Part 7
13. ↑ Volume 1, *Dawn Romance*, Part 1
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Volume 1, *The Torch's Inheritance*, Part 4
15. ↑ Volume 1, *The Torch's Inheritance*, Part 1
16. ↑ Volume 1, The Torch's Inheritance, Part 1