Across the room, Quinn let out a sigh. Despite the fact that he had fought over a dozen people today, he hadn't gotten even a single point of Exp.
It was then that he heard footsteps approaching him.
Looking up, Quinn saw Tsukuru standing behind him.
"Hey," he replied in greeting, before he then activated his Ability. The sound of electronic interference could be heard, and pixels appeared in his hand. The pixels clustered together into the shape of a long cylinder. There was a flash of light. Once it faded, Quinn could see some sort of black cylinder in Tsukuru's hand.
Tsukuru clicked a button near the bottom, and the cylinder changed. It extended, and the top spread open, forming a full-sized umbrella. The whole process was instantaneous. As if the device was spring-loaded. In fact, it had been so sudden that it had caused Quinn to instinctively jump back.
Quinn's eyes widened, seeing how that small cylinder had turned into a full-sized umbrella in a fraction of a second.
"Compact Umbrella," Tsukuru replied, looking up at the umbrella, before smirking back at Quinn. "The joys of advanced technology."
Tsukuru then handed the umbrella to Quinn, who quickly put the umbrella over his head.
"So, where are we gonna go today?" he asked. "The VR Room, like usual?"
Quinn smiled.
"Actually, I want to head to the library first," he replied.
***
Back on Pioletic, the leader of the group of women pulled down her face coverings, revealing her face.
From what could be seen under her hood, she had long, curly, shoulder-length black hair. She had a large curved bang covering the right corner of her forehead. A long section of her hair reached down the left side of her face to her collarbone, completely covering her left ear. Meanwhile, her right ear poked through her long hair on her right side. There was also a single, thick, curved bang stretching down from the center of her forehead. It reached all the way down to below her right eye, looking like a black, crescent moon.
The unknown woman had used some form of "hypnosis" to pump Faye for information. And now she knew everything about their little "mission".
'An Ability that allows one to create ANYTHING THEY CAN IMAGINE,' the woman thought. 'Such a powerful Ability.' Her face then morphed into a look of disgust. 'Such a shame that it's in the possession of a man.'
She then smirkedevilly as she looked down at Faye.
Faye's face looked as though she was in a trance, her eyes glazed over.
"It's a shame that I can't take you back with me,' the woman said, sounding almost regretful. "But, unfortunately, our family is at maximum capacity.'
The woman raised her arm, forming the same position Quinn assumed when he was initiating his "Blood Swipe" Skill.
"Blood Sw-"
Just as the woman began to start her downward moment, a hand lashed out and grabbed her wrist. The hand was covered in a heavy, black gauntlet.
The woman snapped her head towards the figure who had grabbed her, a look of rage on her face. As she did, she saw that the gauntlet-covered hand was connected to a large, imposing man covered head-to-toe in heavy, black armor.
Seeing the figure, the woman's look of ragequickly turned into a look of shock.
"L-Leader Muka!" the woman gasped. "Wh-What are you doing here?!"
Muka then turned to face the woman.
"Stopping you from making a terrible mistake," Muka replied in his deep voice.
The woman's eyes narrowed in irritation.
"Leader Bryce said to run them off or to kill them," the woman replied in a sharp tone. "I chose the latter."
Muka's stare lingered on her.
"And what both you and Bryce failed to realize is that these Humans were most likely sent here on a mission," Muka replied, releasing the woman's arm. "They no doubt have superiors. Superiors who will ask questionswhen the people they sent don't return."
The woman swung her arm down to her side, a look of disgust on her face. It was as if Muka's mere touch was a personalinsult.
"They'll send more humans to investigate," Muka continued. "And that would defeat the purpose of even sending you here in the first place."
The woman kissed her teeth in annoyance.
"Return to the Settlement, Lexi Snacker," Muka replied. "And take the bodies with you. Leave no evidence."
The now named "Lexi" gritted her teeth.
"As you wish…Leader Muka," she said in a forced bow. Though Lexi came from a different family than Muka, she still needed to show him respect as he was a Leader and part of the Council.
Behind Lexi, one of the women stepped forward. In her hands, she held the same black, rectangular device that Logan had in his possession. She placed it on the ground and entered a code. As she did, the rectangle began to change. Pieces of metal and moving parts began to rearrange themselves. Within seconds, the object had transformed from a black rectangle into a large, metal ring.
The ring made a whirring sound, like a machine coming to life. A moment later, a swirling vortex of purple energy began to be generated inside.
One by one, the ten women walked through the Portal. With them, they carried the eight dead bodies over their shoulders like rucksacks.
Lexi pulled out a small, metallic sphere roughly the size of a softball from her pocket. She dropped it down on the ground in front of the Portal and walked in herself. A moment later, the ball began to blink red erratically and made a rapid, beeping noise.
Seeing the ball, Muka grabbed Faye in her arms. A moment later, she vanished.
The flashing and the beeping on the ball got faster and faster. Until…
BANG!
The ball exploded, creating a two-meter-wide crater where the Portal had just been.
Muka then reappeared a short distance beyond the crater.
"Despite my orders, she still tried to kill you, huh?" Muka muttered as he placed Faye back down.
There was no way that Lexi was unaware that Faye would have been caught in the blast radius.
It was around that point that Faye began to come back to her senses. She shook her head vigorously.
"Wha…What happened?" she asked.
She then looked up and saw Muka.
"Who are you?!" she yelled, taking a defensive stance as she saw the heavily-armored individual.
Muka, however, just looked down at Faye.
"It seems the spies we have sent to the Human World have been slacking in their duties," Muka replied. "This is the second time your people have come to this planet in a relatively short period of time. This fact alonedeeply troubles me. It suggests that you Humans might be getting close to discovering the existence of the Settlement. It seems that I might need to…step in."
Muka raised her hands up to her helmet. Slowly, she began to pull it up. And as she did, Faye's eyes widened.
***
Back in Military Base 1, Tsukuru and Quinn headed back from the auxiliary building for the Combat Classes, returning to the main building of the school.
Once they entered the building, Quinn pressed the same button he had seen Tsukuru press back in the Beast Weapons Hall. He watched in shock as the canopy of the umbrella retracted into itself, and the handle snapped back down in place. A moment later, he was holding the same small, black cylinder Tsukuru had been holding.
"That's handy," Quinn replied with a smile. He then proceeded to shove the small cylinder into one of the side pockets on his bag.
Tsukuru turned to Quinn.
"So why do you need to go back to the library, anyway?" he asked, an eyebrow raised in confusion. "Looking to check out some more books?"
Quinn smiled.
"I want to use the public computers to access the online marketplace," Quinn replied. "See if I can get some new Beast Gear."
Much like in the schools of the old world, the library on the base had a small set of computers clustered together that the students could use.
However, as they reached the library, Tsukuru suddenly stopped. His eyes narrowed, his fists tightened, and he felt a deep, burning rage fill him.
Seeing that Tsukuru had suddenly stopped, Quinn did as well.
"Tsukuru?" he asked. "What's wrong?"
But it was then that he sawthe look on Tsukuru's face. That dark look of cold hatred and contempt. Seeing it put Quinn on edge. Because Tsukuru only got like that around specific people.
Quinn tensed and followed Tsukuru's line of vision.
When he did, his heart jumped.
Walking down from the other side of the hallway, anotherindividual was approaching the library.
An older-looking boy with long brown hair pulled into a ponytail. Additionally, he had a black band on the right side of his uniform. Marking him as a Second-YearStudent.
"Mono," Tsukuru snarled.