| “ | Hell, we could even trade places. I'll babble on about friendship and dreams, and you can have fun for once in your life.
— Crow Armbrust
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” |
Crow Armbrust was originally born in the city-state of Jurai. His parents were killed while he was young, and was raised by his grandfather. Said grandfather got embroiled in the schemes of Chancellor Giliath Osborne, and was killed due to opposing the expansion of Erebonia. Crow left to wander Ererbonia, and eventually met Duke Cayenne, who shared his hatred for Osborne. The Duke groomed the 13-year-old boy into his terrorist patsy. Crow takes to this well, leading the Imperial Liberation Front as the mysterious C. He eventually meets Vita Clotilde.
Vita would guide the 16-year-old Crow through the Awakener's Trials, allowing him to form a bond with her and the Divine Knight Ordine. This gives him the title of Azure Chevalier. Two years later, Crow enters Thors Military Academy, seeking to further the goals of the Liberation Front and Vita. There, he meets Towa Herschel, George Nome, and Angelica Rogner as part of a test program for what would become Class VII.
He would meet his successors the next year, stealing fifty mira from Rean Schwarzer as he runs errands for Sara Valestein. in furthering Vita's goals, he grows closer to the younger teen. He is eventually forced to join Class VII proper, as his terrorist actions mean his attendance is falling below the threshold needed to graduate. He acts alongside his fellow kids, cheerfully assisting them while plotting to murder Chancellor Osborne behind the scenes. One of his schemes even threatens the life of Towa, though he plays a part in foiling it.
He finally reveals his identity when he snipes Osborne though the heart, and assist the Noble Alliance as they try to reassert their right to oppress the common people with impunity. He turns a blind eye to their depravities because they shared a common enemy in Osborne, who is now believed to be dead. He loses his life in the final stages of the Civil War, killed protecting Rean from a berserk Divine Knight, Testa-Rossa. Shortly after this, Osborne is revealed to have survived the assassination attempt, making everything he has done be for naught.
Crow would then be revived by George Nome, a scion of the ancient clan of Gnomes who then places a mind control mask on him. He fights as Azure Siegfried, having lost his memories. Eventually, the Great Twilight is triggered, an event which threatens to end the world. Crow then regains his memories somehow and casts off the Azure Siegfried persona. He fights alongside this old Class VII friends, displaying no remorse for his prior actions. He is rewarded for this remorselessness by being granted a new lease on life after, facing no consequences for his actions whatsoever.
Battle vs Kirito (by Leolab)[]
Crow raises his pistols, locking eyes with the black-coated teenager. The taunt had clearly worked, and they were finally going to get to the duel he was being paid to fight. And then, suddenly, his opponent vanishes from his vision. He sharpens his senses, remembering his occasional fights with Rean. He felt something approaching from the front, and crosses his pistols.
A massive force slams into him as Kirito reappears, crossing his blades in an overhead swing. The kid lands on the ground and slips out of sight again, and Crow hears air being displaced to his right. He fires off a shot from his pistol, forcing his foe to stop and block and revealing that one of his swords was glowing yellow.
Crow holsters his pistols and draws his double saber, parrying the combo of slashes and stabs coming his way. He notes that his foe’s off-hand weapon starts to glow blue, and as the one-handed combo ends another begins with the second blade. Another series of strikes, faster this time, are met and warded off by his saber, simple half-turns of the long weapon enough to get one of its blades in the way.
His foe’s main-hand blade glows again, green this time. It certainly heralded something – something that kept his foe only using one sword for a few swipes – but he wasn’t quite sure what. He was still on the defensive for now, his foe’s unceasing strikes giving him little room to maneuver or draw his pistols. He clicks his tongue, realizing he doesn’t quite have enough juice to use some of his stronger strikes, and leaves an opening for any half-decent swordsman to strike at him.
Kirito spots an opening for a split second before it passes, seeing a slight bit of confusion on his foe’s face as he transitions to another one-handed sword skill with his main hand. He lets a throwing pick fall from his sleeve into his off-hand, preparing its associated skill. He sees his opponent leaving another opening and uses two fingers to flick the dart forward, the skill saving its trajectory.
Crow’s eyes narrow as the shot grazes his cheek, and Kirito grimaces. The man was trying to get a read on his abilities, and may have figured something out. Kirito quickly swaps to another series of strikes with his offhand, this one an even faster combo. Whatever his foe had figured out wasn’t quite working for him, as another pair of slashes slip through.
Kirito flinches as a strong parry knocked his sword aside, his flow glowing blue and striking a pose, surrounded by the glow of magic. Whatever the man was doing, he needed to strike fast. The Black Swordsman readies a dual-sword skill, and launches into a rapid series of slashes and stabs. His foe roughly stays in place, swaying and taking half-steps with almost supernatural insight to avoid the harshest of the attacks.
His foe drops to his knees, bleeding as the magic bursts out of him. The field darkens slightly as a swirl of clouds appears in the sky, striking Kirito with a bolt of lightning. He grits his teeth through the pain, trying to ready another sword skill only to find them out of his grasp. He leaps back, cursing as his foe casts more magic.
Fortunately for Kirito, the resulting glyph simply heals Crow’s wounds. The Azure Chevalier cracks his neck and grins, pulling out his pistols and taking a potshot at his foe. He surrounds himself with a blue aura again, reactivating Azure Destiny as he sees Kirito’s swords glowing once again. The teen uses his superior speed to turn into a blur, vanishing from Crow’s sight once again.
He sharpens his senses, using the enhanced intuition from Insight to predict when his foe would strike. As he starts to feel danger, he unleashes a barrage of bullets around him. One of them hits its mark, and he turns to see Kirito stunned for half a second as his sword skill doesn’t go off. Crow takes the opportunity, slamming his foot into his opponent’s knee and shattering it. He levels his pistols at Kirito’s head, firing repeatedly until the teenager falls, dead.
Expert's Opinion[]
Kirito's gameplan relied too much on winning the early game. As time went on and Crow got the chance to put his intelligence to use, more potential paths to victory opened up for him. This led to him winning more often than not.