Near the back of the Beast Weapons Hall, Starrk watched as the large number of students fought against one another. The weapons that these students used varied widely. While some used swords like him, others used tridents, axes, whips, flails, and even the occasional mace.
Starrk's eyes narrowed in concentration as he watched Tsukuru fighting against a boy wielding a set of hand axes.
'So it seems that Lord Tsukuru uses daggers,' Starrk thought.
Personally, he had never seen a person using daggers in a fight. Back in his universe, everyone pretty much used katanas as their primary weapon.
A few moments later, Starrk heard footsteps approaching him.
Starrk glanced to the side, and he saw a bald man approaching him. He had a sword strapped to his hip, but the part that really caught Starrk's attention was the man's clouded eyes.
"I take it you're this 'Coyote Starrk' I've heard so much about?" Sergeant Leo asked, with a smile on his face.
"I might be," Starrk replied. Then, his eyes narrowed. "Wait…are you blind?" he asked.
Leo's smirk widened.
"In some ways, yes," he replied. "And yet, in others, I have better eyesight than anybody else here."
Starrk raised an eyebrow in confusion.
Leo's hand went down to the handle of his katana.
"I'd like to spar with you, if I'm not being too forward," he replied, drawing his sword. "Or is that sword at your side just for show?"
Starrk glanced down at the sword shoved underneath his black sash. He flashed back to earlier this morning.
***
While Vorden was taking his Shower, Tsukuru had walked over and had approached Starrk.
"Hey, Starrk," Tsukuru replied, causing Starrk to turn to him. "Let me see your sword."
Starrk raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"What's wrong with my sword?" he asked.
Tsukuru's face hardened.
"In this world, there exist creatures known as 'Magic Beasts' on alien worlds," Tsukuru replied. "Everything except the weakest Tier among these Beasts, the 'Basic-Tier', is completely immune to conventional weapons. Meaning that you'll never be able to as much as scratch them. Additionally, these Beasts contain special Crystals inside their bodies that can be harvested and used to form weapons and armor. You won't get far in this world trying to use just a basic sword against people wielding Beast Weapons and wearing Beast Armor."
Tsukuru glanced to the side.
"Perhaps if that sword were a Zanpakutō, it would be a different story," he replied. "But due to your specific circumstances, I know full well that's just a regular sword.
Starrk's face tensed. He knew exactly what Tsukuru meant.
When a Hollow became an Arrancar, they sealed the majority of their power into a sword, mirroring the Zanpakutō used by the Shinigami. However, with Starrk, he had decided to split his power between two bodies. Essentially, Lilynette was his Zanpakutō. But…Lilynette wasn't here.
Starrk drew his sword from its sheath and looked at it for a moment. Then, he handed it to Tsukuru.
Tsukuru took it in his left hand.
Then, he activated his Ability.
The sound of electronic interference filled the room, and pixels began to appear in Tsukuru's right hand.
The pixels clustered together into the shape of one of his Intermediate-Tier Knight Swords.
In a flash of light, the sword manifested.
However, Tsukuru wasn't done. He then activated another one of his Skills.
His newest Skill, Video Transmutation.
A System message appeared in front of him.
[Skill Video Transmutation has been activated.]
Almost instantly, the Knight Sword turned light-blue, creating artificial blue light that illuminated their small section of the room, and the sword looked as though it was made out of hard-light pixels.
Slowly, Starrk watched as the shape of the sword began to change. It became thinner, and the sword changed from a typical longsword into a Japanese Katana. Within seconds, the sword had the same exact shape as Starrk'sold sword. Right down to the four protrusions sticking out of its oval guard.
There was another flash of light. When it faded, the alterations to the sword could be seen. It was clearly the same sword, possessing the same coloration and design. However, it was now shaped exactly like the sword in Tsukuru's other hand.
A new System message appeared in front of Tsukuru.
[Skill Video Transmutation successful. -10 Energy.
Energy: 170/180]
Tsukuru then thought about placing Starrk's old sword in his System's Inventory. The expected System prompt appeared.
As Tsukuru thought "yes" to it, Starrk's old sword began to glow light-blue, taking on the appearance of a hologram. Moments later, it broke apart into pixels.
Tsukuru then handed the newly altered Knight Sword to Starrk.
Starrk took the new sword in his hand, getting a good feel of it.
It felt pretty much the same as his old sword. Maybe slightly heavier.
However, Starrk's eyes then narrowed as he felt the sword's Beast Energy flowing into him from the blade.
"I feel a strange energy flowing into me from this sword," Starrk replied, as he inspected the sword. "It feels like it's…strengthening me."
Tsukuru smirked.
"That's the sword's Beast Energy," he explained, causing Starrk to turn to him. "It's the primary reason why people use Beast Gear. It makes people stronger."
***
Back in the Beast Weapons Hall, a small smirk slowly crept across Starrk's face.
"Sure, why not?" he replied, as she reached down and drew his sword out of its sheath. "It'll be my first time using one of these 'Beast Weapons' in a fight."
Starrk took up a fighting stance.
Sergeant Leo grinned and took up a fighting stance as well.
***
In another part of the Beast Weapon Hall, Erin was standing over the collapsed bodies of the three boys.
"You may be Level 4s, but you're still weak," she replied in a cold tone.
The three boys were panting on the ground, trying to catch their breath. All three of them were covered in surface-level lacerations.
One of them looked up at Erin and glared.
"Screw…you, Frost Bitch!" he snarled.
The pair of soldiers then appeared on either side of the first boy in a flash of light.
Erin then watched as they teleported the three boys away one by one.
Erin was about to start looking around for a new opponent until she heard the sounds of blades clashing in the distance.
Elsewhere in the Beast Weapon Hall, Tsukuru swung out his right arm in a horizontal arc. The Black Obsidian Dagger in his left hand had slashed deeply into the stomach of his opponent, and he was sent flying backwards.
As he did, Tsukuru let out a sigh.
'Another fight with no XP,' he thought.
When defeating people in the Beast Weapons Hall, it had become a coin flip to see if he would gain any XP. The Combat Class was made up primarily of Level 1s through 3s, with a small handful of Level 4s. The only person who went above that was Erin at Level 6. And ever since reaching Level 10, Tsukuru would only get XP from defeating a person of Level 3 or higher.
He had currently defeated three opponents and had only gained XP from defeating one of them.
However, it was far better than with Quinn. Seeing as how he only gained Exp from defeating people of Level 4 or higher, there was only a small percentage of the class from whom he could get Exp. In fact, it was so small that one could count the number of people who fit that criteria with both hands, and still have fingers left over.
Just like with Erin, Tsukuru also heard the sound of clashing swords.
However, he also heard something else. People talking.
"Wow, look at them go," a boy's voice replied.
"Just who is that guy?"
Tsukuru turned his attention towards the source of the sword clashes and saw Sergeant Leo and Starrkfighting.
They both clashed swords like veteran soldiers. Which, in a way, they both were.
However, that being said, it was clear that Leo had the upper hand in this fight.
"You're quite goodwith a sword," Leo replied with a smile, as his and Starrk's katana pressed against each other.
"I would hope so," Starrk replied, his hand trembling somewhat as he tried to push Leo's sword back. "I do come from a world where everyone uses swords."
Starrk's eyes narrowed.
'He's strong,' Starrk thought. 'If he were a Shinigami, he could easily attain the rank of Captain. Fighting him just shows me that my body has indeed been weakened.'
Starrk parried Leo's blade and counter-attacked with a sword swing of his own.
Leo hit the sword with his own, knocking it off course, and then swung his katana towards Starrk's chest.
To Leo's amazement, rather than parrying the strike, Starrk merely brought his left hand up to his chest.
As the sword slash connected with Starrk's back palm, a metallicclang was heard. A thin line was sliced in Starrk's white glove, but beneath, his skin remained untouched. Not a drop of blood could be seen dripping down from the small slit that had been made on Starrk's glove.