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 visits Agil at his cafe, Dicey Cafe and teases him about his business with his Cafe before questioning him about the the photo that he has sent. Agil shows him a video game called ALfheim Online which is the successor to SAO. 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 emphasizes on the player's skill which means that there are no actual levels, combat is dependent on the player's athletic ability. Also that the game is popular mainly because it gives the players the ability to fly. The player is able to fly by using the flight engine but Agil heard that it is hard to control. Kazuto is very enthusiastic to try to control the wings but realizes he was getting off topic and asked what the game had to do with Asuna. Agil shows Kazuto the pictures again, and explains that the photo was taken inside Alfheim at the World Tree which is a castle at the top of the tree.



Players are divided into nine races and the goal of the game is to see which race reaches the castle first. Five players attempted to reach the top by lining up and flying but failed eventually, though they managed to take some pictures. In the picture they found a cage and inside the cage was the girl whom Agil showed to Kirito. Kazuto questions why Asuna was in the game then seeing RCT progress at the back of the game, he recalls 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 happened last night with Kazuto but quickly tries 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 gives her the juice and thanks 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.

The voice of the system welcomes Kazuto, telling him to enter his character name and gender, Kazuto types in "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 is relieved to find the "Log Out" option. He then looks at his status window and finds that all his skills from SAO was transfered into Alfheim, aside from his Dual Blades skill which is there, but in a strange text. Kirito looks at his items, and remembers something and tries to locate it as he scrolls down the item list. He finds it and clicks on MHCP001. A crystal appears, Kirito taps the item, and a blinding light is gleaming from the crystal. A figure begins to form and it is Yui. Yui opens her eyes and recognizes Kirito, the two reunite and share a hug.

Kirito wonders why his SAO data is in Alfhiem's servers, and Yui explains that any skills common to both games has been transferred to Alfheim since Alfheim is a copy of SAO. Most of Kirito's items are lost and Yui recommends 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 happened to Asuna.

Kirito notices his wings and wonders 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 tells him that he can accelerate by holding the button and release to decelerate. And that he can fly as long as the wings are shining, so once they reach the limit, you need to let the wings rest. Kirito practises his flying and tries to go to the closest town but Yui felt that there were players nearby.

Two players named Leafa and Recon are trying to escape to the Sylph Territory while being tailed by a group of Salamanders. Leafa is prepared to fight back, but Recon disapproves. Leafa tells Recon to try to kill one while she tries to draw in as much attention as she can. Leafa attacks the group and is able to kill one player. Recon is fighting with a player and kills him before getting himself killed. While Leafa was distracted, she gets hit by a fire cannon and falls to the ground.

Leafa is out numbered by 3 Salamander. Kagemune tells her to give all of her money and items to him in exchange for her life. But Leafa is not giving up and is ready to fight. But the battle is interrupted when Kirito crash lands right next to them. Leafa tells him to run, but Kirito provokes one of the players, and they begin to attack Kirito. Kirito stops one sword with his hands and pushes the sword back. Getting the OK from Leafa to kill the players, Kirito takes his sword and runs it through the Salamander, killing the player. Everyone was astonished by his speed. Kirito turns around asking "Who's next?"

New Characters

 * Recon
 * Kagemune
 * Leafa

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

Adaptation Notes

 * Adapted from Sword Art Online Light Novel Volume 03 Chapter 1,2


 * After landing, Leafa doesn't uses magic to hide from the Salamanders, which actually she used it on the novel.

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." - Leafa
 * "Three heavy fighters attacking a single girl? That's kind of lame." - Kirito
 * "Who's next?" - Kirito