Logan looked at Tsukuru as if he had grown a second head. The idea of a Beast Weapon gun had always been impractical. Unlike with arrows,bullets couldn't be reused.
However, the more Logan thought about it, the more the idea made a sort of sense. While it sounded impractical in a vacuum, that was leaving out one major detail. Tsukuru's Ability. He was able to easily replicate Beast Gear, meaning that he could make an indefinite number of bullets. As long as he had MC, he would never run out of ammunition.
"Alright," Logan said with a slight smile. "Consider my interest piqued. Let's make this 'Beast gun'."
Tsukuru's smirk widened.
"The thing is, we're not just going to make a Beast Gun," he replied.
Logan remained quiet for a moment.
"Alright, now I'm confused," he replied.
However, Tsukuru's smile had only gottenwider.
Over the last few weeks, he had gotten pretty used to fighting using his daggers. He didn't want to just make a gun. That could potentially completely change his fighting style? And, he had to admit that it was kind of frustrating that his only option for a ranged attack while using them was to just chuck them at his opponent like a projectile, and hope they hit.
He had been thinking about this long and hard while Quinn and Logan had been talking about making his suit. Then, finally, he had a eureka moment. One of the most prevalent tropes in anime.
"We're going to make a Beast Gunblade," Tsukuru replied.
Logan's eyebrow rose on his face. Then, he palmed his forehead.
"Tsukuru," he replied, sounding as if he were talking to a child. "Isn't just making a gun going to be complicated enough? We don't need you adding more stuff to it."
Tsukuru let out a scoff.
"It'll be a simple modification," he replied. "Trust me,"
He held out his hand and activated his Ability.
The sound of electronic interference filled Logan's room, and pixels began to appear in Tsukuru's hand.
The pixels clustered together into the form of a long cylinder that looked to be the size and width of an adult's pinky, with a rounded top that looked like a sharp triangle.
There was a bright flash of light. When it faded, the cylinder fully manifested.
The cylindrical part was a gold-colored metal, with the triangle tip being a silver-colored metal.
"We'll start with the Beast bullet, and then build the gunblade around it," Tsukuru replied. "This is what we'll base it on."
Logan gave the bullet an analytical look.
"And just whatkind of bullet are we working with?" he asked.
Tsukuru picked up the bullet with his other hand and held it between his thumb and index finger.
"This is a 390 Grain Spire Point round," Tsukuru replied. "It's a heavy bullet designed for penetration, and was primarily used in the 500 Magnum Smith and Wesson, believed to be the world's most powerful revolver."
Tsukuru let out a sigh and glanced to the side.
"I wanted to use a gun with a detachable magazine over a revolver, but that would have been pretty much impossible with what I want to do," he replied.
Logan tilted his head in confusion.
"Why?" he asked.
Tsukuru glanced back at him.
"A detachable magazine is easier to reload than a revolver," Tsukuru replied. "With a revolver, you need to pop open the cylinder, dump out the expended cartridges, and then reload each chamber one by one," Tsukuru explained. "Meanwhile, magazine-fed handguns simply require you to pop out the empty magazine, put a new one in, and keep firing."
Logan put his finger under his chin. The way he put it, a magazine seemed far more efficient than a cylinder.
Tsukuru sighed again.
"Unfortunately, since I want to make my gun also a dagger, the magazine would just get in the way," he continued. "See, I'm planning on making the gun handle so that it can move up and down on a ratchet. That way, it can double as both the gun and sword handle."
Tsukuru's eyes then narrowed.
"However, a magazine goes all the way up the gun to the chamber," he replied. "It's essentially a stiff brick shoved up the gun from the bottom, which would make moving the grip back and forth impossible."
Logan nodded, seeing Tsukuru's point.
"So you want me to make one of those out of metals andBeast Crystals?" Logan asked, pointing towards the bullet.
Tsukuru smiled.
"Actually, only one small part of the bullet needs to actually be a Beast Weapon," he replied.
Tsukuru activated his Ability again.
The sound of electronic interference could be heard again, and more pixels appeared in his hand.
This time, the pixels clustered together into something that looked like a long hammer. However, it had a large, thick cylindrical cap at the end.
There was a flash of light, and the "hammer" appeared.
"And just what is that thing?" Logan asked, raising an eyebrow.
"It's a bullet puller," Tsukuru replied. "Specifically, it's an inertiabullet puller."
Tsukuru unscrewed the large cap at the end. Inside, the weird "hammer" was revealed to be hollow. At the end, there was something that looked like a thick metal ring.
Tsukuru slid the bullet through the ring, which caught the rimmed end of it. He then screwed the top back on.
He then turned back to Logan.
"Now, a bullet is relatively simplistic in design," he replied. "It really only consists of four parts. There's the shell casing, or 'cartridge', the primer at the very end, a small amount of gunpowder, and the actual projectile at the tip."
Tsukuru then held his hand out in front of him. As he did, a platform of sorts appeared in the air in front of his chest. The "platform" consisted of three rows of light-blue translucent hexagons.
"That's new," Logan muttered.
Tsukuru raised the bullet puller high above his head.
"Think of the primer as a small explosive," he replied. "When the anvil attached to the gun's hammer hits the primer…"
He slammed the hammer down onto the hexagons as hard as he could. A small outline of overlaying light-bluesquares rippled across the surface of the hexagons.
"...it explodes," he replied. "The explosion then ignites the gunpowder, causing pressurized gas to build up. This gas then forces the projectile out of the bullet casing and down through the barrel at high speeds."
Tsukuru then unscrewed the cap on the bullet puncher, before then unscrewing the metal ring as well. As he pulled it out, the gold cylinder of the bullet came with it. As it did, Logan could see a hole in the top where the cap had been.
"The projectile is the only part that needs to be a Beast Weapon," Tsukuru replied, glancing over to Logan. "The rest can just be made out of the standard composite alloy composed of brass, copper, and zinc used for traditionalbullets.
Logan raised an eyebrow.
"Why's it a composite alloy?" he asked.
"Because it expands to seal the pressurized gas from the gunpowder burning inside, and contracts to enable the empty casings to be extracted easily," Tsukuru replied.
Tsukuru then turned the bullet puncher upside-down and held it over the hexagons. The spiked cap fell out, as well as a small pile of black grains.
"In other words, all I need to make is that spiked cap, right?" Logan asked.
Tsukuru glanced back at him.
"Not exactly," he replied with a smile. "You see, while this weapon does have a decent amount of penetration, it is pretty much useless against armor."
Tsukuru's eyes narrowed.
"And these days, everybody wears armor," he replied.
"Meaning that you need something else," Logan replied, more as a statement than a question. "Something that actually canpiercearmor."
"Right," Tsukuru replied. "That's where the second type of bullets comes into play."
Tsukuru held out his hand and activated his Ability again.
As the pixels appeared in his hand, they once again formed a cylinder, but this time, the cap was sharpened at the top, making it look like a rounded spike.
There was a flash of light.
When it faded, Tsukuru was holding the new bullet.
"This is an armor-piercing round," he replied, turning to Logan.
"Isn't this the same thing as the other bullet?" he asked.
"Despite being designed for better penetration than regular bullets, it's still made out of soft lead," Tsukuru replied. "This one's different. It's made of ultra-dense tungsten with a thin copper coating. On impact, the copper deforms, while the dense tungsten punches through the target. It's designed to be able to pierce right through tanks and armored vehicles."
Tsukuru used the bullet puncher on the new bullet, as well. When he emptied it out, he dumped it into a pile a short distance to the right of the first pile.
He then picked up both caps and handed them to Logan.
"That is what I need you to make," he replied.
Logan held up the two spiked caps to his eye and looked at them.
"Fascinating" he muttered.