I've been wanting to do this for so long and finally I can, I want to talk about Star King and how he is, imo, the most tragic character in the whole series.

People believe that "Star King is so cool and dark" but in reality..... It's not really like that....

Star King is not the edgy version of Kirito, Star King is a Kirito who lost everything he had.
The only thing that kept him human, and the most important thing in his life, is, and was his queen: Asuna
They spent 200 years together, she was his ONLY strength.

But now, she's not there for him anymore, he is alone, Star Queen, his queen, now loves another version of him, the true Kirito, and Star King doesn't even consider "the original Kirito" himself
He refers to Kirito as " him" and not "me".

Now imagine how much he can suffer, the person who has been his reason of life, the only thing that reminded him of being human, for 200 years has been taken away from him.
Now do you understand why these images were shown while Star King was talking to Higa?

Spoiler for Unital Ring :
I honestly believe that this is a set up to make him the final antagonist of the story. A Kirito whose sole purpose now is to protect Underworld, his world.
He's definitely not human anymore.
Especially considering the prologue of UR..

I have seen many people confused about SK so I specific it here:
Star King, although he's a copy of the real Kazuto Kirigaya, is totally a different person.
Kirito is a 20-year-old guy.
SK is a 200-year-old man, a king and a ruler.

A 200-year-old person will NEVER be like the person he was when he was 20 years old. By taking Asuna away from SK, literally, his reason of life, you have taken away EVERYTHING he had. Now he has no feelings, and his only purpose is to protect HIS world: Underworld.