Sword Art Online Episode 16

The Land of the Fairies (妖精たちの国) is the sixteenth episode of the Sword Art Online anime adaptation. It aired on October 20, 2012.

Plot
Kazuto comes and visit Agil at his cafe, Dicey Cafe and tease him about his business with his Cafe before questioning him with the the photo that he has sent. Agil shows him a video game call ALfheim Online which is the successor to the NerveGear. Agil explains that Alfheim means "Land of the Fairies"

Agil tells Kazuto that the game's system is not the same as SAO. It encourages Player Killing and emphasis on the player's skill which means that there are no actual levels, combat is depends on the player's athletic ability. Also that the game is popular mainly because it gives the players, the ability to fly. The player are able to fly using flight engine but Agil heard it is hard to control. Kazuto is very enthusiastic to try to control the wings but realizing he was getting off topic and ask what did the game had to do with Asuna. Agil shows the pictures again, and explain that the photo was taken inside Alfheim at World Tree which is a castle at the top of the tree. Players were divided into nice races and the goal of the game is to race to reach to the castle first. Five players try to reach the top by lining up and flew up but fail though they manage to take some pictures. In the picture they found a cage and inside the cage was the girl, Agil show. Kazuto questions why Asuna was in the game than seeing RCT progress at the back of the game, he recall the conversation he had with Nobuyuki which could be the answer. Agil tells him to go save Asuna before Kazuto leaves with the game.

Back at home, Suguha is thinking about what happen last night with Kazuto but quickly try to forget and ate a muffin but with the sudden appearance of Kazuto, she chokes on her food and tries to reach her juice. Kazuto give her the juice and thank her for making him feel better before leaving to his room. Kazuto looks at his NerveGear, recalling his encounter with Nobuyuki before putting it on.

A voice of the system welcome Kazuto, telling him to enter his character name and gender, Kazuto types down "Kirito" and chooses Spriggan as his race. Kirito is then transported to the Spriggan's home town but there was a malfunction and Kirito finds himself in a forest. Kirito checks and find the "log out" opinion. He than looks at his status window and finds that all his skills from SAO was transfer into Alfheim. Kirito looks at his items, and remembers something and tries to locate it as he scroll down the item list, and finds and click on MHCP001. A crystal appear, Kirito taps the item, and a blinding light is gleaming from the crystal. A figure begins to form and it is Yui. Yui open her eye and recognize and hug Kirito.

Kirito wonders why his SAO data is in Alfhiem servers, Yui explains that any skills common to both games had been transfer to Alfheim since Alfheim is a copy of SAO. Most of Kirito's item are lost and Yui recommands that Kirito delete them before the error detection program finds it, although Kirito was having trouble deleting them. Yui transforms into a Navigation Pixie and is able to access to the map databases. Kirito tells Yui what happen to Asuna.

Kirito notice his wings and wonder how to fly. Yui tells him that there is an assist controller, and to pull the controller toward his body to fly and push to descend. Kirito begins to take off, and Yui tell him that to accelerate by holding the button and release to decelerate. And that he can fly as long as the wings are shining also that there is a certain amount of time, when you need to let the wings rest. Kirito practise his flying and tries to go to the closest town but Yui felt that there are players nearby.

Two players name Lyfa and Recon are trying to escape to the Sylph Territory but are attack by a group of Salamander. Lyfa is prepare to fight back, but Recon disapprove. Lyfa tells Recon to try to kill one while she tries to draw in as much attention. Lyfa attacks the group and is able to kill one player. Recon is fighting with a player and kill him before getting himself killed. Lyfa not paying attention, gets hit by a fire cannon and falls to the ground.

Lyfa is out numbered by 3 Salamander. Kagemune tell her to give all her money and item in exchange for her life. But Lyfa is not giving up and is ready to fight. But the battle was interrupted when Kirito crash lands. Lyfa tells him to run, but Kirito provoke one of the player, and they begin to attack Kirito. Kirito stop one sword with his hands pushing the sword back. Giving the ok from Lyfa to kill the players, Kirito takes his sword and runs through the Salamander, killing the player. Everyone was astonished by his speed. Kirito turns around asking "Who's next?"

New Characters

 * Recon
 * Kagemune

Location
Real World Alfheim
 * Dicey Cafe
 * Ancient Forest, Neutral Territory

Adaptation Notes
Adapted from Sword Art Online Light Novel Volume 03

Quotes

 * "A game where you can die is too easy" - Kazuto
 * "Go save Asuna. Otherwise, our fight can't really end" - Agil
 * "Miracles really do happen" - Kirito
 * "I'm not a beater anymore. I'm just a cheater" - Kirito
 * "You should do something useful once in a while" - Lyfa
 * "Three heavy fighters attacking a single girl? That's kind of lame" - Kirito