The first group to depart from the training room headed away from the east wing. This group consisted of the eight higher-ups. Supreme Commander Oscar, Head General Paul, General Nathan, General Duke, Sergeant Leo, Sergeant Faye, Sergeant Shizuka, and Sergeant Dillon. They headed back down the hall towards the regular meeting room.
Sergeant Leo was still carrying Ian's corpse over his shoulder, but it was now sealed in a black bodybag courtesy of Hikiko Tsukuru's Ability. However, that was not the only thing he had created. For as the group walked, they would constantly look back behind them. Shizuka was at the back of the group. But she wasn't alone. Standing behind her were two "women". They both had athletic builds, but they could not look any further apart.
The girl on the left had green skin and dark-green hair, and her arms and legs were covered by an insectoid exoskeleton. She also had a black belt made up of segmented ovals around her waist. She wore a very revealing outfit that looked more like a two-piece swimsuit than actual clothes. She had two pieces of light-tan cloth attached to a necklace of tiny skulls around her neck. The cloth wrapped around her breasts diagonally downwards, covering the important parts, before reaching behind her back. There, the two were tied into a knot.
She had another set of small skulls forming a belt around her waist, with a large bovine skull in the center that reached halfway down her thighs. Extending downwards from the belt of skulls was a ragged short skirt made of the same light-tan cloth.
Meanwhile, the girl on the right had dark, tanned skin and dark-purple hair. Her body was covered in cream-colored tribal markings. For her attire, she wore a low-cut, sleeveless crop-top that covered the bottom half of her breasts down to the start of her navel. It appeared to be made of the brown fur of an animal, with light-tan fur adorning its top. A loincloth made of the same brown fur covered her lower body. However, the loincloth also had a long, bushy tail hanging down from the back. Revealing it to be a pelt.
These were Tsukuru's Hobgoblin and Amazon Summons. And between their arms, they were carrying something like a set of movers. It was a large chair, bigger in size than a standard rotary chair, yet still smaller than a recliner chair. However, the chair was quite…unique. First of all, it looked more like a throne than a chair. Secondly, it was molded to look as though it was made out of stone, with long, geometric shapes. However, the "stone" appeared to be encased in a layer of permafrost, with icicles hanging down from the edges. Additionally, the back of the chair looked like a cluster of ice shards shooting out of the stone.
Paul pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Sergeant Shizuka, what is that?" He asked.
Shizuka wore an amused smile on her face.
"What?" She asked innocently. "All I did was have little Tsu-Tsu make Oscar a chair for our meeting, and enlist the help of two of his Beasts to help carry it."
Sergeant Faye glanced back at the two Beasts, a look of annoyance on her face.
"Seeing those two makes me feel…insulted." She replied. "What happened to the other two? The Knight and the…'Harpie'?" She asked.
Shizuka glanced back at the two. When she did, she saw that while the Hobgoblin didn't seem to be bothered, the Amazon was now narrowing her eyes at Faye. It seemed that she didn't take too kindly to what Faye was insinuating.
"Tsu-Tsu said that those two were his physically strongest Summons." She replied. "So he figured they'd be the best for performing such…manual labor."
As the group entered the room, they slightly rearranged the chairs at the table. While the left side of the table was left untouched, the seats of General Duke and Sergeant Dillon were moved downwards slightly to make room for Head General Paul's seat. This made a space for the Hobgoblin and the Amazon to place Oscar's chair. Once the chair was in place, the two Summons turned to Shizuka.
Shizuka nodded in appreciation.
"Thanks, you two." She replied, giving them a two-finger salute. "You can go now."
The two Beasts nodded, and they broke apart into pixels.
Those who had never seen one of Tsukuru's Summons being dismissed, being Oscar, Paul, Faye, and Dillon, all jumped back in surprise.
"Kid's got his own labor force." Sergeant Dillon muttered, slightly stunned.
Oscar walked over to the seat and examined it.
"Once this whole war is over and the Dalki are dealt with, the kid could make a killing in custom work." He muttered, rubbing his hand across the left armrest. Despite looking like hard stone covered in permafrost, the chair was actually made out of soft foam.
Oscar turned around and sat down in the chair. As he did, his eyes widened at just how comfortable the chair was.
'I think this might be the most comfortable chair I have EVER sat in.' Oscar thought. He narrowed his eyes and turned to Shizuka.
"I'm taking this with me when I go." He replied in a voice of finality.
Paul let out a sigh.
"Let's just move this along." He muttered. Slowly, the remaining seven people took their seats. Sergeant Shizuka, Sergeant Faye, Sergeant Leo, and General Nathan sat on the left side of the table, while Sergeant Dillon, General Duke, and Head General Paul sat on the right side of the table. Meanwhile, Oscar sat in his special chair at the back of the table.
Additionally, as Sergeant Leo sat down, he placed the bodybag containing Ian's body down on the floor next to him.
Oscar leaned back in his chair and looked towards those who had headed off in the Retrieval Team.
"Alright, who wants to go first?" He asked with narrowed eyes.
***
Layla was currently at the archery range in one of the training rooms. She usually came here whenever she wanted to clear her mind. Initially, when she had made that "call", she was hoping that one of her connections would be able to get Quinn back to the base. However, it turned out that the Red Portal Planet Quinn had been sent to was a relatively unknown planet. And…the more she thought about it, the angrier she got. And all that anger…was being directed at Peter.
Layla let loose the drawstrings of the Starling Shot. One of Tsukuru's Glathrium arrows soared through the air, creating a "whistling" sound. The arrow hit the target dead-center, creating a bullseye.
It was then that Layla heard students talking as they passed by the door to the training room.
"Hey, did you hear?" A girl asked. "Those three missing students from class 7-A. Apparently, they're back!"
Hearing this, Layla's eyes widened.
Instantly, she snapped her head towards the door.
"Are you sure?" Another girl asked. "I heard they ended up on a Red Portal Planet!"
The first voice then continued.
"Yeah, I saw that 'Vorden' guy walking back towards the student dormitory." She replied. "And I heard someone say that they heard the class's teacher, Del, cheeringLOUDLY as he sprinted down the halls."
Layla pursed her lips.
'Vorden's back?' She thought. 'But…what about Quinn and Tsukuru?'
Layla immediately packed up her things. She retrieved her Glathrium arrows from the targets and placed them back in her quiver. Then, she placed the Starling Shot Bow back on her back. As Layla bolted out of the training room, she made a beeline for the student dormitory.
***
Back in the meeting room, Sergeant Faye narrowed her eyes.
"When we arrived on Pioletic, we emerged in the middle of the forest on the outskirts of the shelter." She replied.
Nathan glanced at her.
"The one that was infested by those Palewalkers?" He asked.
Shizuka smirked.
"Didn't look too 'infested' when we got there." She muttered in an amused tone.
Her words caused the others to turn to her.
Sergeant Faye sighed.
"No, it did not." She muttered. "As we traveled, we didn't find so much as a single Palewalker." Her gaze then hardened. "And then, as we came across a clearing, we found out why.
Paul raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"What we came across looked like the sight of a battlefield," Faye replied. "There were a dozen bodies of dead Palewalkers clustered in a large group in thecenter of the clearing. It seemed that Hikiko Tsukuru, for some reason, had decided to camp for the night in the middle of their nest." Faye replied.
Duke scoffed and crossed his arms.
"And what led you to that conclusion?" He asked.
Sergeant Faye glanced over at him.
"The Glathrium sleeping chamber and picnic table were a pretty bigdead giveaway." She replied in a deadpan tone.