Tsukuru looked at Layla for one more second, before he let out a sigh.
"Yeah, sure," he said, waving his hand dismissively. "Go ahead and take them.
Layla smiled.
"Thanks," she replied, as she grabbed the two pieces of Beast Gear off of the table.
She slid the closed Intermediate-Tier Frost Fan in the right pocket of her military blazer, and wrapped her hand around the Intermediate-Tier Ice Amulet.
She'd put it on once she and Erin made it back to their dorm room.
Tsukuru turned back around towards the rest of the group.
As he did, all of his Summons stood at attention.
"Listen up!" he announced. "All of you except Galina, and Starrk, dismiss yourselves!"
The seven Video Summons not mentioned all bowed in their own specific ways.
"Yes, my liege!" they chorused.
They then dismissed themselves, sequentially breaking apart into pixels one after another.
In mere moments, the Assembly Hall was significantly less crowded, only having Tsukuru, Quinn, Vorden, Peter, Layla, Erin, Galina, Starrk, and Sergeant Faye standing inside of it.
Slowly, the group began to make their way out of the Assembly Hall.
As the group of Quinn, Tsukuru, Vorden and Peter passed by Sergeant Faye, the Sergeant turned to them.
Or to be more specific, Tsukuru.
"Student Hikiko!" she replied in an authoritative tone. "Please don't leave behind junk and clutter the Assembly Hall!"
Tsukuru raised his arm up in a dismissive posture.
"Eh, the military can have it," he replied.
Sergeant Faye's eyes narrowed.
"Does that mean that it's-"
Tsukuru let out a sigh, cutting her off.
"Yes," he replied in a bored tone. "It's a Glathrium table."
Once they all exited the Assembly hall, the group of students and summoned Beasts headed down the hallway leading towards the exit of the main school building, while Sergeant Faye had taken the hallway leading up to the second floor.
***
A short while later, Head-General Paul, General Nathan, General Duke, Sergeant Leo, Sergeant Shizuka, and Sergeant Dillon were all sitting in their designated spots in the usual meeting room, as they waited for Sergeant Faye to arrive.
Eventually, their heads all snapped towards the door, as they heard it click open.
In the doorway, they saw Sergeant Faye entering.
"About goddamn time," General Duke muttered, a bored look on his face, as Sergeant Faye made her way to her seat between General Nathan and Sergeant Leo.
Head-General Paul pinched the bridge of his nose, and let out a sigh.
"Alright," he replied. "Let's begin this emergency meeting."
General Nathan let out a sigh, and leaned back in his seat.
"I still don't know why this was even necessary!" he complained. "Absolutely nothing happened on the base while you were gone! We didn't do anything!"
Head-General Paul's eyes narrowed.
"You know exactly why this is necessary," he replied in a low tone. "Because I need to know if I need to send any more 'retrieval teams' after students who got pushed into Portals!"
Immediately, everybody turned and looked at General Duke.
Seeing the looks, General Duke's right eye began to twitch, and a vein began pulsing on his forehead.
"Oh, don't give me that look!" he retorted. "The last kid who pulled that stunt is currently locked in the base's dungeon! You really think there's any students who are dumb enough to try that again when they know that's the consequence?!"
General Nathan glanced over at the side.
"I don't know," he muttered under his breath. "Your Second-Year Students have seemed to be pretty brazen in the last few weeks."
General Duke slammed his fist down on the table, making the whole thing shake.
"Zip it, pint-size!" he yelled, pointing his index finger at General Nathan. "Before I come over there and twist you into a pretzel!"
Head-General Paul groaned, and brought his hand up to his face.
'I wonder if the other Head-Generals have to deal with babysitting a bunch of children,' he thought.
He turned to Sergeant Faye.
"What about you?" he asked. "How was overseeing Student Hikiko's group?"
Immediately, everyone turned their gazes towards Sergeant Faye.
***
At around the same time, the group of students had arrived in front of the Student Dormitory.
Layla turned towards Quinn and the others.
"Guess this is where we part ways," she replied.
Quinn smiled.
"Yeah," he replied. "Looks like it."
Erin narrowed her eyes.
'I need to up my training,' she thought.
She'd have to pay a visit to the VR Room tomorrow, to spend a few hours practicing in Power Fighters.
Since there wouldn't be any Combat Classes in the next to days due to it now being the weekend, it was her only option to fight against other people to train her skills.
The group of six entered the Student Dormitory.
While Layla and Erin headed towards the staircase at the end of the hall, the four boys made their way down the winding hallways towards their assigned dorm room.
At the very back of the room, Peter gulped.
"Hey, guys?" he asked in a nervous tone.
Immediately, the group came to a sudden stop.
The three remaining boys looked back at him, and Peter instinctively jumped back in fear at the death glare on Vorden's face.
"Can…Can I…sleep in the room this weekend?" he asked.
Vorden narrowed his eyes at him.
"No," he replied in a sharp tone.
"B-But…" Peter stammered.
"I said NO!" Vorden replied again in a raised voice.
Tsukuru let out a sigh, and he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Oh, just let him sleep in the room!" he replied in an exasperated tone, as if he found the way Vorden was acting to be quite ridiculous. "Seriously, what's he going to do?"
Vorden whirled around on Tsukuru.
"That's the entire problem!" he shouted. "We don't know what he's going to do!"
Peter dropped his face, looking at the ground with an expression of pure misery, as he heard Vorden's words.
Tsukuru let out an even deeper sigh, and he shook his head back and forth, as if he was dealing with a screaming child.
He looked back up at Vorden.
"How about this," he suggested, jabbing his finger behind him at Starrk. "I'll post him as a guard to watch over us as we sleep. If Peter does try anything, he can just throw him out of the room."
Vorden stared at Tsukuru for a moment longer, as he mulled the thought over in his head.
"Fine!" he eventually replied, crossing his arms.
It was clear that he didn't like the decision.
However, behind them, Peter was relieved.
At least he wouldn't have to sleep on the hallway floor again, crying himself to sleep, only to get brutally beaten awake in the morning by a Low-Level student on a power trip.
The group continued making their way towards their dorm room.
***
Back in the meeting room, Sergeant Faye's eyes darted from one person to the next.
It was clear that she had become the sole figure of attention in the room.
She let out a sigh.
"They decided to do some 'simulation training'," she replied. "As many of them had never fought a Beast before, they all took turns fighting against one of Student Hikiko's Beasts."
Head-General Paul narrowed his eyes.
"'Simulation training', huh?" he muttered. "How'd they do?"
Sergeant Faye let out an exhale of air.
"Among the four students who fought against Beasts, only student Vorden Blade and student Erin Heyley managed to defeat their Beasts," she replied.
General Duke gritted his teeth, as Vorden's name was brought up.
At the same time, General Nathan gave Sergeant Faye a bored look.
"So only the High-Level students were successful," he replied.
"Correct," Sergeant Faye replied in a dry tone.
Head-General Paul's brow furrowed, as he took in Sergeant Faye's words.
Or to be more specific, a certain part of it.
"What do you mean, 'among the four students'?" he asked. "Weren't there six students in that group?"
Sergeant Faye's eyes narrowed.
"Student Peter Chuck was exempted from the simulation training entirely," she replied. "He spent the entire time in the Assembly Hall in a corner, training his Level 1 Earth Ability."
Head-General Paul's eyes narrowed, as he heard suppressed snickering coming from the Second-Year section,
He shot the General and Sergeant a dark look that made them immediately clam up.
He then turned back to Sergeant Faye,
"And what about the other student who…abstained?" he asked.
"Student Hikiko Tsukuru spent a large majority of the time in the Assembly Hall sitting at a table in the far-corner of the room," she replied. "He seemed to be…making things, and then placing them into some kind of Storage Skill his Ability possesses."