Sword Art Online Episode 06

Phantom Avenger (幻の復讐者) is the sixth episode of the Sword Art Online anime adaptation, as well as the sixth episode in the Aincrad Arc. It aired on August 11, 2012.

Plot


After witnessing Yolko dispersing into polygons, Kirito spotted the hooded murderer fleeing from the crime scene and attempted to capture him. During the pursuit, the hooded murderer took out a teleportation crystal. When Kirito noticed this, he used his blade throwing skills to attempt to distract the hooded man, but the attack was blocked by the AREA effect while the murderer was not surprised by the attack. The hooded murderer then began to use his teleportation crystal, and, while Kirito was chasing him, the bell suddenly rang, preventing him from hearing where the murderer was teleporting off to.

Frustrated in his failed attempt to capture the perpetrator, Kirito returned to the room and slammed his fist against the wall, which prompted the «Immortal Object» pop-up to appear. Meanwhile, Asuna was guarding the terrified Schmitt, who fully believed that the murderer was the vengeful ghost of their deceased guild leader, Griselda, because the assassin’s robe was similar to Griselda’s outfit. But Kirito still believed that it was not a ghost, as ghosts could not use teleportation crystals, and believed that there must have been a logical explanation to the two murders within the safe areas.



After sending Schmitt back to the «Divine Dragon Alliance's» headquarters, Kirito and Asuna contemplate about the recent events. Asuna begins to believe that the black robed player really is Griselda's ghost by having seen it twice. But Kirito still insisted that it was not a ghost, because a ghost would not be able to use/need a teleportation crystal. It seemed Kirito had an explanation regarding the teleport crystal, but he quickly disregards it after. After a moment, Asuna gives Kirito a sandwich. Kirito praises the sandwich, thinking that the sandwich was bought, but he is then told that it was handmade by Asuna. Kirito jokingly suggests to auction Asuna's handmade food, in order to get rich. This angers Asuna, causing Kirito to lose grip of his sandwich. As he witnesses the sandwich shattering into fragments, he falls to the ground, at first seemingly upset with the disappearance of the sandwich, but in reality, he realizes the truth about the crime, exclaiming that what they had seen was something else and that there have never been any weapons or logic that could make murders possible in safe areas.

Meanwhile, in the 19th Floor's fields, the «Hill of the Cross», Schmitt visited Griselda's grave, asking for forgiveness. Then a ghost-like voice was heard, repeatedly asking "Oh really?" and thus frightening Schmitt. Then he realized that something was getting close to him quickly and Schmitt turned around, only to find a rabbit. Schmitt, now relieved, turned around to find a hooded ghost. The ghost asked Schmitt what he had done and took out a sword. Frightened, Schmitt confessed that on that day, he had found a crystal and a memo in his belt pouch, but he was then interrupted by a man's voice asking him whose orders was it, and a second hooded ghost appeared. Schmitt believed that the second ghost was Grimlock's and replied, saying that he did not know who had given the order and claimed to never have murdered anyone. The two "ghosts" then took off their hoods and were revealed to be Yolko and Caynz, who were very much alive, shocking Schmitt.

Meanwhile, Kirito explained to Asuna that Yolko and Caynz were in fact still alive, stating that within safe areas, a player's HP could not be lowered under normal circumstances, but the durability of objects, on the other hand, could still be decreased, like the sandwich which lost its durability and shattered into fragments. The spear that pierced Caynz's armor did not lower Caynz's HP, but the armor's durability instead, which explained the dispersing shards, and that by timing for the moment the armor broke, Caynz teleported away resulting an effect, similar to the death special effect. As for Yolko, Kirito guessed that she had the dagger piercing the back of her clothing, as she had never shown them her back while talking with them. When her clothing was about to shatter, she acted as if a dagger from the outside had hit her and fell off the window, teleporting out at about the moment that it would shatter. Kirito also presumed that the hooded murderer was Caynz, who imitated the appearance of a hooded murder to make it look as if Yolko was killed by him.



At the Hill of the Cross, Schmitt realized Yolko and Caynz's plan and stated that he was only following an order that someone had paid a lot of money for him to do. Schmitt was then suddenly attacked by a dagger and became paralyzed by it. The attackers then approached, with Schmitt recognizing them as members from the infamous player killing guild, Laughing Coffin, and they revealed that they had come with intention to kill Schmitt, Yolko, and Caynz. Just as the situation looked grim, Kirito arrived in the nick of time on a horse to save them and scared off the player killers by claiming that he had reinforcements arriving soon. Heeding Kirito’s warning, PoH, Red-Eyed XaXa and Johnny Black depart from the scene. Schmitt thanked Kirito for saving them, but asked how he knew that they would be ambushed. Kirito responded that he did not know for sure, but thought it was a possibility.

Kirito began questioning about the two weapons made by Grimlock. Yolko and Caynz admits that Grimlock was not willing to help them at first, but eventually gave into their request. Kirito tells them that Grimlock didn't oppose their plan for Griselda's sake, surprising Yolko and Caynz.



Kirito then recalls the conversation with Asuna. Asuna ask Kirito, what he would do if he got a legendary drop. Kirito responds that he hates that kind of situation, that is why he went solo. Asuna responds, that in her guild, they have a rule that the item belongs to the person who received it. She continues saying that in SAO, it's up to the player to announce what he or she received after a battle. That's why, it is better to set a rule like that to prevent having secrets and lies between the party members and that this rule would make marriages mean something in SAO, explaining that once you're married, the item storage is shared with the significant other. After getting married, the player cannot hide anything anymore. Asuna thinks that it was romantic and realistic, while Kirito, out of curiosity, asks if Asuna was ever married. Asuna misunderstands the question and is prepared to attack with a fork. Kirito quickly clears up the misunderstanding and realizes something about the storage sharing. Kirito asks what would happen to the items if one of the couple died. Asuna then tells him that they would likely be sent to the spouse's inventory instead of being lost. Both then quickly realized that when Griselda died, due to her in-game marriage status with Grimlock, the ring had ended up in his inventory, and that he had stolen it from his own storage.



Now in the present time, Caynz questions if it was Grimlock that sent the memo and killed Griselda. Kirito explains that Grimlock hired the Laughing Coffin to commit the murder. Kirito also explains that Grimlock helped with Yolko and Caynz's plan so that he could use their plan to bury the ring case forever, by getting all three of them to get together and exterminate them for good, thus explaining the appearance of the Laughing Coffin.

Asuna arrived with the captured Grimlock, the client of the Laughing Coffin who was watching from a distance. After being cornered, he admitted that he was the mastermind behind the death of his wife, whose real name was Yuuko. His actual motive was that he did not want her personality to change from what it was originally in the real world. Believing that his Yuuko had vanished and wanting to keep Yuuko as she appeared in his memories forever, he decided to kill her, convinced that he killed his wife out of love. Asuna corrected him, saying that it was not love, but a feeling of possession. Startled by Asuna's words, Grimlock fell to the ground, shaken. Schmitt and Canyz then went to Grimlock, thanking Kirito for helping them, and asked if they could take him, to which Kirito agreed.



As the case draws to a close, Asuna asks Kirito what he would do if he was to get married and noticed a side of his partner that he had not known before. Surprising Asuna, he replies that he would feel lucky to be married to someone because that would mean that they would love every side of their partner that they already know and would have another part of them to love. Before leaving, Kirito grabs Asuna's arm to show her Yuuko's ghost and feels that Yuuko can now rest in peace. Asuna suddenly asks if they can add each other as friends and, even Kirito still insisted that he is a solo player, Asuna urges him to think about while they get some food as they head back to town.

New Characters

 * PoH
 * XaXa
 * Johnny Black
 * Grimlock

Guilds

 * Golden Apple
 * Knights of the Blood
 * Divine Dragon Alliance
 * Laughing Coffin

Inventory

 * Caynz
 * Teleport Crystal
 * Asuna
 * Sandwich
 * Kirito
 * Throwing Pick x 3
 * Sandwich - given by Asuna
 * Yolko
 * Record Crystal
 * Guilty Spike
 * PoH
 * Mate Chopper

Location

 * Aincrad Floor 57
 * Marten
 * Marten inn
 * Marten park
 * Marten restaurant
 * Aincrad Floor 19: Hill of the Cross

Adaptation Notes

 * Adapted from Volume 8 A Murder Case in the Area.


 * In the LN, Asuna and Kirito go over to the 20th Floor in an attempt to ambush Grimlock at an NPC restaurant that he apparently likes, but in the anime, they just sit on a bench to have dinner.
 * In the LN, Schmitt was asked to write down the names of all Golden Apple members and he gives the parchment with the names to Kirito. While waiting for Grimlock on the 20th Floor, Kirito reads the parchment and notices that Caynz's name is romanized as Caynz, instead of Kains, which clues him in that the murder was a hoax. In the anime however, Kirito deduces the truth through his sharp intuition after seeing his sandwich burst due to hitting the ground with low durability.
 * Schmitt's past is not revealed in the anime. In the novel, it states that he was a sportsman.
 * The Algade House does not appear in the anime, and so Heathcliff does not make an appearance. In the novel, Kirito and Asuna meet with him and ask him if murders in safe areas were possible. In the anime, Kirito makes his own conclusions while walking around Marten.
 * In the novel, Kirito took several precautions incase he would be attacked by the Laughing Coffin members by drinking an antipoison potion and having multiple healing crystals on him. In the anime, this is omitted.
 * Schmitt's paralysis status seems to wear off after the Laughing Coffin members leave in the anime. In the novel, Kirito gives Schmitt an antipoison potion instead.
 * In the anime, after the ghost talks to Schmitt, the latter looks around and finds a rabbit, before turning around to see the "ghost". In the novel, Schmitt sees the "ghost" after the "ghost" talks to him.
 * Kirito does not mention that Caynz had a second teleportation crystal to pretend as if he was dying in the anime. In the novel, he mentions that he must have stabbed himself outside the safe area, and teleported back into the city to look as if someone had killed him.
 * In the anime, when Kirito chases the Laughing Coffin away, he states that he has reinforcements arriving soon. In the novel, after they leave he sends a message to Klein stating that they got away.
 * The dialogue between the Laughing Coffin members and Kirito is much shorter in the anime than the one in the Light Novel. When Kirito comes to rescue Yolko, Caynz and Schmitt, the leader, PoH, does not recognize Kirito in the anime, but in the novel, PoH remembers Kirito and that they had met somewhere before.
 * In the Light Novel, XaXa told Kirito that he would chase him by riding a horse. In the anime, XaXa did not say anything to Kirito.
 * The Laughing Coffin members do not seem to recognize Schmitt as the leader/sub-leader of the DDA in the anime. Instead, they call him a "bigshot" due to his membership in the DDA.
 * In the LN, Grimlock denied his guilt of having Griselda murdered at first, saying that Griselda must have tried the ring on which is why he did not receive the ring himself after she was killed and only admitted his guilt after Yolko unearthed an «Eternal Storage Trinket» with Griselda's Seal of the guild leader and her marriage rings, proving that Griselda could not have tried the ring on.
 * Though the Light Novel depicts Kirito in his Blackwyrm Coat, the anime seems to show him in a different, unnamed coat.

Quotes

 * If you married someone, that means you love every side of your significant other that you already know. So if you find a new side after to love, doesn’t that mean you’ll love your partner even more? - Kirito

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