(1600 hours)
Kato ditched the group and called Rei to meet him at the ruins. Kato climbed the cliff face and arrived at the top of the cliff. He pushed through the abandoned complex between him and the entrance to the dungeon. An automaton let loose a salvo near him. Kato slid into a nearby piece of cover and grabbed his M14. He planted the gun on a wall and shot the automaton in the head. It collapsed onto the ground and exploded into crystals. Kato slung the rifle over his shoulder and took out his pistol. He sprinted through the area and activated a trap that caused a building to collapse in front of him. Before the building landed on the ground, Kato slid under the building and came out the other side unscathed. He looked back at the building and saw the automatons trying to chase after him. He kneeled and started to pick off a few enemies before moving on to the dungeon.
"Master!" Rei said when he met up with Kato.
"C'mon, we have no time," Kato said.
Kato grabbed her hand and brought her into the dungeon. They opened the door and the first monster appeared. Kato raised his rifle and gunned the beast down. Kato pushed the mag release with a fresh magazine and pushed the empty magazine out. Kato inserted the new magazine and pushed forward into the dungeon. It took an hour to reach the rendezvous point,
Kato grabbed the magazine and pressed down on the magazine release with his thumb. He tossed the magazine to the side and inserted the final magazine. He passed through the doors and saw the group standing there. Kato took off his backpack and opened the front pocket for a medkit.
"Sorry to message you out of the blue Kato," Kirito apologized, "Things have gotten weirder since you left."
Kato looked at Sachi and noticed that she was unresponsive to any direct communication. Zeliska mentioned that the AI was starting to fall apart since it was acting unresponsive. Rei plugged into Sachi and scanned her memory.
"The black box is growing," Rei informed us, "At this rate, her AI functionality is at risk."
"How long do we have?" Kato asked.
"Optimistically," Zeliska guessed, "One day."
"And I want to prevent that from happening," Kirito said, "Can you help me with this?"
"I'll help," Kato answered, "But you owe me a favor."
"I understand," Kirito acknowledged.
Kato discarded the empty medkit and analyzed Sachi. She was catatonic and irresponsive to any commands. Kato walked behind her and took out a tablet and told Rei to start a scan on Sachi's AI.
"If I were you, I'd be getting off of my ass and try to do something," Eiji commented, "You're not doing anything by standing there."
"Hush Eiji!" Asuna scolded.
"It's a fact though."
"He's right," Kato groaned while looking at Sachi's AI data.
The black box was starting to grow. The surface of the box had a sheen on it. The box's shape was also oddly shaped. It wasn't a normal cube shape but more oval-shaped.
"It looks like obsidian," Kato commented while inspecting the box further, "But its sheen is like a mirror."
"Like glass?" Asuna asked.
"Obsidian is glass."
"Wait..." Sinon asked, "How is this related to a quest called The Queen of the Night? What are we even looking for?"
"A queen. Glass from a mirror..." Asuna contemplated, "It reminds me of something."
"Queen of the Night... Isn't there like a story or something like this?"
