Armour of Xiphias (Kenji)

"The entire ensemble gave the impression of a demon. And here I thought Arashi was scary to look at before."

- Excerpt from SAOK: The Eventful Taurus, were Kenji describes Arashi's appearance.

«Armour of Xiphias» (シフィアスの鎧) was the high-powered unique suit of Tanking gear worn by Kusaka Kori on the early floors of in «». The entire suit comprised the upper-body, arms, waist, legs and feet slots and was described by Kenji Hiroshi as being absurdly strong.

This particular suit was obtained by Kusaka on the 5th of December 2022 from a one-time event on the, and was wielded by him during the levelling sessions he led that included Airi, Yoshiro and Sojiro. It was this suit Kusaka wore during the pitched battle with «Zagan the Exile».

Appearance
This suit incorporated the upper-body, arms, waist, leg and feet slots, and completely covered Kusaka's body in pitch-black interlocked scales, resembling those of a fish, and was described as being darker than a bottomless pit. The knees, elbows, and shoulders of the suit featured various spikes. In addition to its defensive functions the suit featured a glowing red eye set in the centre of the chest-piece that glowed demonically.

Attributes
The most noteworthy aspect of the «Armour of Xiphias» was its absurd defensive power. Even against «Zagan the Exile», whose attacks were stated by Kenji to be powerful enough to kill everyone in the party sans Kusaka in a single blow, Kusaka's HP never once dropped below the green portion.

In addition to its defensive power the «Armour of Xiphias» had the following attributes:


 * Regen -- a trait of the armour signified by the glowing red eye in the centre of the chest-plate. This effect restored a small amount of Kusaka's HP at set intervals and could be stacked with the regeneration effect of low-level healing potions to boost the effect.
 * Lightweight Property -- a trait neither Kenji nor Kusaka had encountered during their time in the beta that reduced the overall weight of the armour. Kusaka described it as being overall lighter than his old «Iron Armour». Kusaka had earlier complained about the weight of his old suit lowering his mobility, especially during a crisis, and found the property appealing.

Known users

 * Kusaka Kori.

Behind the scenes

 * The «Armour of Xiphias» was named after the Xiphias greatsword in Final Fantasy 14, whilst its appearance was based loosely on the equipment wore by Cecil Harvey as a Dark Knight in Final Fantasy 4.

Trivia

 * «Xiphias» is another name for the Xiphiidae family more commonly known as the Swordfish. The scale-like design of the armour was inspired by this connection.