The origin of the ID PoH comes from his real name—Vassago.
That is, the demon Vassago, one of Solomon's 72 Pillars of Demons, known as the "Prince of Hell."
But to him, this was by no means a title of praise—if U.S. birth certificates hadn't forbidden obviously derogatory names, he should have been called Satan instead.
Perhaps Vassago's very birth was a mistake.
His Japanese father and Spanish mother had a fling in America, which resulted in an unplanned pregnancy—and it was nothing more than a one-night stand for his father.
Originally, Vassago's mother wanted an abortion.
But his father already had another child—his legitimate wife's child—who was diagnosed at birth with congenital kidney defects.
Without a transplant, the child likely wouldn't live past twenty.
So this man, whom Vassago could only loosely call "father," forced his mother to give birth to this unwanted child, hoping Vassago would serve as a kidney donor.
And so, Vassago was born in the slums of Tenderloin, San Francisco.
As fate would have it, Vassago's kidneys did indeed match with the brother he had never met.
His father decided that, when Vassago turned fifteen, a transplant operation would be performed—though Vassago himself only learned this after the fact.
For those fifteen years, the money his father provided was barely enough for him and his mother to survive.
He never attended school a single day.
The only things he ever "learned" came from his mother's mutterings at home and the idle thugs hanging around their doorstep.
This kind of background and upbringing twisted Vassago into a mentally unstable, extremely self-centered person.
He never cared about how things were done—only about the end result.
"Once the surgery is over, I want to emigrate to Japan."
This was the one and only condition Vassago made when he signed the voluntary kidney transplant agreement.
He asked for nothing else, because he knew that once the operation was complete, his father would have no further use for him.
Rather than demand something unrealistic and risk rejection, it was better to exchange his value for a chance to reset his life.
And indeed, his idea was not wrong.
His father agreed and granted his request—or at least, mostly did.
But Japan's immigration laws were complicated, and Vassago was unable to secure permanent residency.
With nowhere to go, he eventually turned to the local yakuza in order to stay in Japan.
Once part of the syndicate, his role was simple: muscle-for-hire, debt collection—and sometimes even contract killing.
At times, Vassago even felt his upbringing in the American slums had been "useful"—after all, not every country offered you the chance to witness criminals handling their business every single day.
Thanks to years of exposure, the work of a hitman came to him naturally.
In this way, under the shadow of the yakuza, Vassago managed to live a few "stable" years in Japan.
Then, in mid-November 2022, he received his tenth assignment since joining the gang—his first as a hired killer in the virtual world.
The mission: to log into the death game Sword Art Online and kill a target who was otherwise difficult to reach in reality.
That's right—Vassago wasn't among the players who had logged into Aincrad from the very beginning.
He only entered after Kayaba Akihiko had officially declared SAO a death game.
Since this was an unprecedented situation with an extremely high risk of death, none of the gang's hitmen accepted the job right away… except for Vassago.
Tempted by the astronomical reward, he agreed.
Under arrangements made by the gang and the client, Vassago obtained a brand-new NerveGear loaded with an SAO account, through which he entered Aincrad.
Thus, the ID PoH—which would soon strike fear into countless players—was born.
Almost as if it were an inborn talent, Vassago proved exceptionally skilled at a VRMMO like SAO.
Whether in combat or in other aspects, he displayed a unique understanding.
In fact, by the third month after entering SAO, Vassago had already located his target and dispatched him with ease.
Yet, instead of satisfaction, he felt his inner restlessness growing stronger, a nameless rage burning hotter and hotter within him—something that intensified the moment he laid eyes on the player with the ID Kirito.
They really looked alike… one could even say identical.
At the sight of Kirito, Vassago immediately recalled the brief encounter at the hospital with the brother he had seen only once since birth.
The two of them looked as though they had been cast from the same mold.
Even the way they smiled when happy was exactly the same…
He wondered what kind of expression that face would make when stepping into Hell.
And from then on, he set a new goal: before leaving SAO, he wanted Kirito to witness a glimpse of Hell itself, to fulfill his fantasy of dragging his brother into the hell.
Step one would be to kill Tomioka Akimi…
The pain of losing a friend should be enough to twist Kirito's expression.
That was PoH's thought.
Just then, Johnny Black, who had been keeping lookout nearby, suddenly spoke:
"Hey, boss. They're here."
— The end of the Chapter–