Endrance

Endrance (エンデュランス, Endyuransu) is the Epitaph User titled "The Temptress". He is a Blade Brandier, and acknowledged as a powerful player, even by the strong players of The World R:2. He is also an AIDA-PC. Endrance is cold and has little interest in other players, and only shows emotion to the small cat on his shoulder.

Appearance
Endrance is a somewhat androgynous male character with long, braided blue hair. He wears tight-fitting purple armor as well as a cap lavishly decorated with roses. In combat he wields a long thin sword.

Personality
When Endrance is possessed by the cat-shaped AIDA he calls "Mia", he seems obsessed with beauty, and sees other players as nothing more than "ugly dolls," treating them coldly. Though he is online almost constantly he never meets with other players, instead traveling through fields by himself. The only times he makes public appearances is when he's called into the Arena to defend his title. He is fiercely devoted to "Mia," and when fighting he constantly refers to "her." Shortly after he joins Haseo, Endrance becomes much friendlier. He expresses a desire to feel needed, especially by Haseo.

Basic Info
In the real world, Endrance is a computer addicted, reclusive 20-year-old named Kaoru Ichinose (一ノ瀬薫). He lives with his parents in Kanagawa Prefecture. According to Yata, he plays The World R:2 almost 24/7, logging out just enough to sleep. He doesn't appear to eat meat, as he says meat reminds him of blood and fish smells bad to him. He also states that girls scare him. He was also the player behind Elk seven years before.

Project .hack

 * See Elk

.hack//Alcor
With the power of Macha behind him Endrance easily climbs up the Arena rankings, eventually reaching the point where he can challenge the Emperor Alkaid.

.hack//G.U.+
Endrance rules as the undisputed champion of the arena. Watching from the sidelines, Haseo and Kuhn notice both his Avatar, as well as the small catlike AIDA that has attached itself to him by posing as his dead pet. Wanting to rid him of his AIDA, Haseo decides to challenge him to a fight in the arena. Endrance begins to attack him with Macha but Haseo activates Avatar Skeith who manages to defeat Macha after a short fight. During the battle Haseo is able to temporarily glimpse into Endrance's mind, and realizes that the AIDA attached to him was draining his emotions by taking the form of his old pet. He uses Skeith to destroy Mia, dealing great psychological damage to Endrance.

A short time later Endrance is attacked by Tri-Edge. Though he puts up a decent fight, he is defeated, becomes comatose in the real world. Yata takes Endrance's comatose PC body to the Serpent of Lore, where it rests alongside Sakubo and Shino, other victims of Tri-Edge.

.hack//G.U. Games
Endrance is the reigning Emperor of the Demon Palace arena circuit; he is also an Epitaph User and an AIDA-PC. He uses Avatar Macha to defeat his opponents, since avatars are invisible to all but other Epitaph Users. Everyone else just believes he is unbelievably fast and strong. Saku is one of his rabid fangirls, calling him "Master-En" out of respect, and believes they are "bound together by a red string of fate." Saku is chasing him, though Bo shares very little interest. He is possessed by an AIDA copy of Mia. When facing Haseo in the duel arena, they both call forth their avatars. Haseo wins, and Endrance's cat, Mia, is revealed to be an AIDA.

After losing "Mia" again, he encases himself in a block of ice at the bottom of the lake at Indieglut Lugh, drawn to being in The World, but too sad to do anything. Saku finds him and protects him, at some point becoming infected with AIDA herself. Haseo eventually seeks out Endrance for help, as was Alkaid's last wish, and gives Endrance a speech, saying that he needs him. Moved by this, Endrance later appears and saves Haseo when Bordeaux has him cornered in the Arena. It quickly becomes apparent that Haseo's words have caused Endrance to completely replace Mia in his life, with Haseo as the object of Endrance's affection.

During the PK Tournament, it appears that Endrance betrays Haseo and joins Taihaku's team. However, in the end, Endrance's true colors are shown when he stabs Sakaki in the back with his sword before adding his power to Haseo's in order to allow him to use Skeith against Sakaki.

.hack//Link

 * See Endrance (LINK)

Gameplay
Endrance is a Blade Brandier, which is the most balanced class in the game, with good offensive and defensive attributes, making them flexible for most combat situations.

Being an Epitaph User, Endrance can acquire a Lost Weapon during Volume 2 by collecting Adler's Keys: a rare Sword called "Tempting Rose" (which is renamed to "Seductive Rose" once evolved to its final form), which adds Charm to regular attacks and increases the chances of Rengeki.

Stat-wise, Endrance has the highest HP and physical attack in the game, as well the third highest physical (tied with Piros the 3rd) after Bordeaux and Zelkova. Because of this, as well his Lost Weapon, he is widely considered one of the best characters in the game.

Trivia

 * Endrance's starting weapon is called Princess Blade.
 * Endrance is the only male character which Haseo can marry in the max affection ending of Redemption.
 * Endrance's Japanese voice actor, Mitsuki Saiga, also does the voices of Elk and Tsukasa.
 * Endrance's character is 6'4" (194 cm) in height.
 * A poll on CyberConnect2's website shows Endrance as the fifth most popular character in .hack//G.U.
 * Endrance's own strength is rather debatable, considering he used Macha as opposed to his own stats, to instantly kill players. So, in all definition of the term, Endrance is, as Alkaid puts it, a 'cheater'. In-game speaking, he possess one of best stats in the whole game, with all attributes very balanced, with a higher attack power.
 * It is strongly implied in the first .Hack//G.U. novel that Endrance is the same person as Elk. First, when Haseo is fighting Endrance, Haseo is able to see some of Endrance's memories. In these, Endrance is playing the World R:1. Endrances PC in the World R:1 was a 'quiet-looking Wavemaster' who was talking to an irregular cat-type PC. He then continues to say 'Mia. My cat. My only friend' and Haseo observes that the cat and the wavemaster 'seemed to be a couple.' Almost immediately after, Haseo sees another of Endrance's memories, in which the cat-type PC was 'held up by an invisible power, and crying out in agony,' to which Endrance's old PC responds 'They killed her! They killed my Mia!' These two exact same lines were used in the .Hack//Another Birth novels.