Earlier that same morning…
Within a large room in an unknown place, there was a large, rectangular table that stretched out far and wide. It covered a significant amount of the space in the large room. Lining the table, there were thirteen seats. Attached to the top of each chair was a Victorian-style candle holder. And while twelve of the candles were lit, their candlesticks burning with a bright, purple flame, one was not. Carved into the very top of the chair was a number in a square outline. The numbers had a strange font that seemed to incorporate bat wings.
The number below the unlit flame was 10. The slant of the "1" looked like a left bat wing, and the "0" had a pair of bat wings growing out of the top.
Each chair whose candle was producing a flame had a person sitting in it. Each of these figures had piercing, red eyes. Out of the twelve individuals, only fourwere female.
Additionally, each figure had a person standing directly behind them.
The man sitting in the chair with the number "9", which had a left bat-wing growing out of the bottom curve on the number, was covered from head to toe in thick, heavy, black armor. He turned his head towards the elderly, bald man sitting in the chair with the number "1".
"Alright, Bryce," the man replied in a deep voice. "We're all here. Now, can you tell uswhy you've called a council meeting?"
Bryce gripped his hand around his cane.
"Several of the proximity sensors we placed on the planet we use to test the Direct Descendents on have been tripped," he replied in irritation.
The man sitting in the chair labeled "13", the "3" of which had the same left-facing bat wing growing out of its bottom loop like the "9,"glanced over at Bryce. The man had gelled-back black hair and had a goatee that slightly covered his chin.
"The Humans again?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "We chased them off that planet once already. Not only that, but that stronghold they built on the planet is in ruins. What could they possibly have to gain by returning there?"
Bryce was about to respond when suddenly, the face of the woman in the chair labeled "8", the "8" having the same set of bat wings as the "0", a woman with long, black hair, scrunched up.
Seeing the look, the woman in the chair labeled "3", a woman with long, blonde hair wearing a black, poofy dress, turned to her.
"Is there a problem, Jill?" she asked.
The now named "Jill" then turned to Bryce.
"Bryce, I just received a message from one of the members of my family," she replied. "It seems that those proximity sensors have been tripped again."
Bryce's right eye began to twitch.
"Kazz!" Bryce called.
Instantly, the girl behind him stepped forward. She had a cute face with two dimples on her cheeks. Additionally, her black hair was pulled back into buns that looked like bear ears.
She glanced over at Bryce.
"Yes, my leader?" she asked.
Bryce glanced back at her with a harsh glare.
"Go deal with them," he replied in a sharp tone. "Either kill them or run them off. Just make sure they don't return to the planet for a third time!"
Kazz nodded.
"Of course, my leader," she replied.
Suddenly, the heavily-armored man sitting in the chair labeled "9"turned to Bryce.
"You're going to send a Vampire Knight to go deal with a handful of Humans?" he asked in his booming voice. "Is that really necessary?"
Bryce narrowed his eyes even further, glaring at the armored man.
Meanwhile, the man sitting in the chair labeled "6", the top of the six turning into a right-facing bat wing, rolled his eyes. As far as he was concerned, this was a huge waste of his time.
He then glanced over at Jill.
"Jill," he replied, getting everyone's attention. "It's been quite a while since the Eighth Family has been out on a mission. Why don't youdeal with the problem?"
Bryce snapped towards the man.
"That is not your decision to make, Vadeen!" Bryce roared, a vein pulsing on his forehead.
Jill's face morphed into a sinister smile at Vadeen's suggestion.
"Sure," she replied, causing Bryce to turn to her. "I don't mind."
Bryce's hand gripped his cane so tightly that cracks started to appear. He then gritted his teeth.
"Fine!" he eventually spat. "Do as you wish! Just get rid of them! The test for the Direct Descendants will be coming up in the next few months! And we don't need Humanspoking their noses in it!"
The armored man sitting in the chair labeled "9" turned back to "Bryce".
"Shouldn't we at least find out why they were on the planet in the first place?" he asked.
"It doesn't matter why they were there," Bryce said in a sharp tone. "And quite frankly, I don't care."
***
Back in the Beast Weapon Hall, back in the present, Tsukuru had a confused look on his face due to the lack of XP from defeating Layla.
'Uh, mom?' he thought.
A moment later, Reiju responded.
"If you think about it for a second, the answer should be pretty obvious," she replied. "Your Level 10 and a Level 4 Ability User now. Think of it like this. Imagine you've just completed the Story Mode in a video game, and you decided to go Level Grinding in the first area of the game."
Tsukuru let out a deep breath.
'Right,' he thought. 'It's a case of diminishing returns, then.'
Tsukuru looked down and saw Layla starting to stand back up. She had already drunk the Health Potion, thus her wounds had all healed. But the slash marks were still present on her clothes, causing her skin to be visible through the tears.
'Actually, this kind of reminds me of something Vorden had said when explaining Power Fighters to Quinn,' Tsukuru thought.
Vorden's words then flashed through Tsukuru's mind.
***
"Before you enter the game, you can even input your Ability Level!" Vorden had said. "That way, it'll match you against people around the same Level! Of course, you could always just lie about your Ability Level, but those kinds of people never get any better at fightingby bullying those weaker than themselves all the time!"
***
The more Tsukuru thought about it, the more it made sense. He was a Level 4, now. So he wouldn't really get any experience from beating a Level 2 like Layla. In fact, all it did was make him seem like Riley, Brandon, and Mono.
"'Power Fighters'..." Reiju mused. "That's the game that Laura's son, Logan, created, isn't it? I vaguely remember her mentioning something about it…"
Tsukuru smiled and inwardly chuckled.
"It's also the most popular game in the current day and age,' Tsukuru replied.
There was a short pause, then Reiju spoke up again. However, her voice had taken on a…serious tone.
"Speaking of Laura, she said that she would take you in if anything bad ever happened to me," she replied. "I sure hope she…kept her word."
Tsukuru let out a sigh.
'Yeah,' he thought back. 'She did.'
There was another pause.
'Tsukuru…the System is connected to your mind. I can feel your depression as if it were my own. What aren't you telling me?"
Tsukuru clicked his tongue in annoyance.
'Great, now I have a mind-reading mother,' he thought in annoyance.
'I heard that!' Reiju shot back.
Tsukuru sighed internally.
"Let's just say that Laura's parenting style was the same as yours,' he thought.
There was another pause.
"So she was never around, then.' Reiju said more as a statement than a question.
Tsukuru's face morphed into a bitter smile.
'Logan once said the only thing he couldn't get as the heir of the Green Family was to spend TIME with his parents,' Tsukuru thought.
"...ouch," Reiju muttered.
"Tsukuru?" Layla asked.
Instantly, Tsukuru snapped out of his conversation with his mother and turned to Layla. When he did, he saw a look of concern on her face. "Is…something wrong?"
Tsukuru was about to respond when a shrill ringing could be heard piercing the hall.
Instantly, Tsukuru's gaze snapped up from the noise.
Leo glanced up at the ceiling.
"Oh, looks like that's all the time we have today!" he announced, before turning to the students. "Everybody who has not brought their own weapons, please place your borrowed weapons back on the weapon racks! Good job today, everyone!"
Tsukuru glanced back at Layla.
He gave her a gentle smile.
"Nah," he replied. "I'm fine. I'll…I'll see you tomorrow."