Ishi

"There is no name for what I am... and there is no name for what I will become."

-Ishi

Ishi is an alpa tester for Sword Art Online. He is the main protagonist of Sword Art Online: Clashing Blades.

Appearance
Ishi wears a black shirt with black pants that have wing shaped guards on the bottom of each leg. He also wears a white five tailed hooded jacket with multiple smaller blades fastened around it. He wears a white fingerless glove on his right hand and wears black shoes that have chrome guards on them.

After the events of Clashing Blades, Ishi wears a black hooded cloak over his entire outfit.

In ALO, Ishi wears the exact same attire as in SAO, transferring his character data from SAO to ALO. As a Sylph, he has wings, although they are white in color, a choice given to him for his status as an alpha tester in SAO.

Background
Ishi Haseo was friends with one of the developers of Sword Art Online, and therefore got a spot for the first alpha tests of the game, where he was allowed to design his own weapons along with the other few alpha testers. He designed his custom sword, Arondight, and personal gauntlet, Gilgamesh, which are designed to scale up to his level as he progresses through the game. On the day Sword Art Online was released, he was one of the first players to enter the game, and soon discovered he couldn't log out. After the Game Master adressed the players, he was one of the first to take action, vowing to beat the game and kill the Game Master, both in game and in real life.

Personality
Kind at heart, but headstrong and rebellious, Ishi prefers to do things his own way and usually doesn't accept help and almost never joins or hosts parties. He tends to stick with just two other players, Jackel and Dainsleif, who are his greatest friends both in game and in real life. Despite not liking teams (save for with his friends), he is a strong team player, supporting his allies with his skillful abilities. He refuses to let anyone die before him, and will risk his life to save another, no matter the danger. However, most of the time he likes to work alone, figuring it's the best way for him to get things done. He has claimed that once he beats the game he will personally murder Kayaba Akihiko for what he's done.

He has a deep hatred for player killers, absolutely refusing to become one himself.

SPOILERS START HERE

After a few encounters with Yamato, Ishi begins to descend into a sort of madness, in which he begins to claim that he's "missing something". After Ishi becomes a Player Killer, his insanity increases quicker, and after Misaki's death at the hands of the leader of Laughing Coffin, it reaches a climax in which Ishi goes into a berserk state, killing all players in his viscinity with no hesitation or remorse. After his next and final encounter with the leader of Laughing Coffin, Ishi finally discovers what he has been missing. He was not feeling truly alive in battle because he couldn't feel close to death in the game. Thus he uses Skeith to remove the pain inhibitors on the NerveGear so he can truly experience the fight, thus reaching his full potential.

After this, Ishi's psychotic side is quelled and replaced by a calm and wise attitude similar to Yamato's personality. He becomes decisive in his actions, giving everything to protect the innocent, but to the guilty, showing no mercy. This state of mind is what Yamato said he could not reach.

SPOILERS END HERE

Relationships
Asuka

Ishi met Asuka when she confronted him asking for help in travelling to Vespera from Talmia. After reluctantly agreeing and friending her at their destination, Ishi unintentionally spends a bit more time with her, and soon helps her to level up, and eventually takes her under his wing in training her.

Knight

Ishi respects Knight for his strength and perserverance in the most difficult of situations, holding him in high regard as a leader. Under his leadership in Pendragon Court, Ishi followed his orders willingly, trusting in his judgement. After he left the guild, he retains the tendency to follow his lead. He responds to the name Lancelot only from him.

Misaki

Ishi and Misaki had a romance before, when Ishi was a member of Pendragon Court, but it wasn't taken very far and was a short relationship. After Ishi left the guild the two drifted apart, although they weren't too close to begin with. Even so, her death almost breaks Ishi, and is something he will never get over.

Yamato

Yamato is Ishi's archenemy and rival. After their first encounter, Ishi makes it a goal to defeat him, and accelerates his leveling to do so. He grows to respect Yamato's skill and abilities as a swordsman greatly.

Sword Art Online
Ishi is an incredibly skilled master swordsman, fighting with his personal sword, Arondight, and gauntlet, Gilgamesh. He is undefeatable in close quarters, using his deadly skill and a fighting style that varies between graceful and outright brutal. He focuses mainly on speed and skill, finding that the best way to win a fight is to simply not get hit, developing a unique ability, Zero Shift, specifically for this purpose. It allows Ishi to dash around the battlefield at incredible speed, crossing large distances in extremely short times, looking almost like teleportation.
 * Level: 58
 * HP: 10544
 * Main Equipment:
 * Arondight
 * Gilgamesh
 * 5 Small Blades

SPOILERS START HERE

After becoming a Player Killer, Ishi slowly develops his berserk state, where his combat abilities are amplified, but he loses his sense of reason and goes on a blood rage, killing any player opposing him in his sight without thinking about it, and all self preservation instincts are lost in this state.

After Ishi reaches his full potential, his abilities are increased exponentially, fighting decisively and without hesitation, becoming even more skilled with his sword and gauntlet, able to mach and even surpass Yamato.

During his final battle with Yamato, Ishi's uses Skeith to corrupt the data of Kusanagi before dealing the final blow to Yamato. Respecting Yamato's last wish for him, he is able to restore the sword using Skeith, transforming it into Izanagi in the process, as well as unintentionally applying some of Yamato's character data to himself, enabling him to use Judgement Cut and applying Yamato's skills with the weapon to himself.

SPOILERS END HERE

New Aincrad
In New Aincrad in ALfheim Online, Ishi retains his abilities from SAO, still using all his weapons he possessed previously with the same level of skill. With the addition of flight, however, Ishi is able to further heighten his blade skills with the use of his wings, being able to engage in high speed aerial fights. However, he rarely uses his wings unless he absolutely needs to, and prefers to fight on the ground, even though he can be much more deadly in the air.
 * Level: 100
 * HP: 25401
 * Main Equipment:
 * Arondight
 * Gilgamesh
 * 5 Small Blades
 * Skeith
 * Izanagi

Trivia

 * Ishi's last name, Haseo, is a reference to Haseo of .hack//Roots and .hack//G.U., a player of The World R:2, another online MMORPG.
 * Ishi's unique ability, Zero Shift, is a reference to the Zero Shift ability used by Orbital Frames Jehuty and Anubis in Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner.
 * Ishi's alignment is Chaotic Good.
 * It is unknown where the permanent scars on his right cheek and over his left eye came from.

Music Themes
Music Theme=|-| Music Theme (Alternate)=|-| Battle Theme (Normal)=|-| Battle Theme (Berserk)=