Upon hearing Shizuka's words, the faces of Sergeant Faye and the smaller private to both snapped to her.
Sergeant Faye's eyes slowly returned back to their natural eye color, the one she had possessed before being turned.
"Ser-Sergeant Shizuka?" The private asked in a mix of terror and confusion, terror from how Sergeant Faye was five seconds away from beating him into a bloody pulp, and confusion from Sergeant Shizuka's words that she had agreed with Sergeant Faye.
"Think about it, if one of the Big Four Original families, such as the Bree, Graylash, or especially the Sunshields, ever got word that we had recorded footage of one of their family members practicing their Ability, what do you think would happen?" Shizuka asked conversationally.
"The Head-General would receive a call from the head of that family in a heartbeat, demanding that the recording be deleted immediately," she replied before the private had a chance to respond, proving her previous question to be completely rhetorical.
"This is essentially the same scenario."
Shizuka then turned towards the private, and looked into his scared, widened eyes.
"Go ahead, delete the footage," she ordered. "If anybody asks you about it, just say that you were following the orders of two Sergeants."
The private gulped, and Sergeant Faye could feel his heart racing like a pounding drum with her Vampire Senses.
It took all of her years of discipline in the military to keep herself from not attacking the private right here and now, draining his blood and treating him as a walking juicebox.
She was only one day away from her next needed consumption of blood, so her bloodthirst was starting to grow in her gut like a lingering ache.
Sergeant Faye released her grip, causing the private to drop like a stone.
He got to his feet, and scrambled over to control console.
"I…I don't get paid enough for this!" he whined, as he began to scrub the security feed's mainframe of the designated footage.
A message soon appeared on the screen.
[Security Feed [Assembly Hall - 09:15 - 18:00] has been successfully deleted.]
***
Back in one of the rooms in the Student Dormitory, a long silence had fell over the room, as Quinn, Tsukuru, and Galina looked in wide-eyed shock at Vorden's words.
After a moment, Galina got over her stunned shock, and her face quickly morphed into a pout.
She spun around and faced Vorden's direction.
"Galina is not some tool that can be…just 'rented out'!" she yelled in indignation, stomping the ground and making the whole room shake due to her immense weight.
Tsukuru let out a sigh.
"Enough, Galina," he replied. "You're going to break a hole through the floor, and fall through, at this rate."
Galina's eyes widened again at Tsukuru's words, and she immediately stopped stomping on the floor.
Tsukuru then turned his attention to Vorden.
"But…Galina is right, Vorden," he replied. "I can't simply just 'lone out' one of my Summons to you for the Portal Outing. Besides, she's going to be fighting alongside my other Summons during the outing, anyway."
Vorden let out a sigh.
He kind of had a feeling that this was going to be the case.
But…a small part of him was kind of hoping that Tsukuru would agree.
He still remembered when he and Tsukuru had that 'sparring match' in the arena inside the Training Center on Pioletic.
Having a weapon that could become basically any kind of weapon that he could think of would have been a great advantage on the Portal Outing.
"Yeah, I kind of figured you were going to say that," he replied in disappointment. "Oh, well. It was at least worth a shot."
It looked like he'd have to go find an actual Beast Weapon, after all.
"But, that being said," Tsukuru replied, catching Vorden's attention. "I may have…an alternate solution."
Vorden looked up at Tsukuru in confusion.
He watched as Tsukuru held his hand out in front of him on his bed.
"Summon," he replied.
The sound of electronic interference filled the room, and Tsukuru's bed became illuminated as pixels appeared a short distance away from Tsukuru's outstretched hand on the bed.
The pixels clustered into an ovular shape that was suspiciously similar to Galina's base Metal Slime form.
There was a flash of light, and when it faded, the mattress had sunken inwards where the Metal Slime was now sitting, as if a bowling ball had been placed down on it.
This was Tsukuru's second Metal Slime, still in its initial "Spawn" stage, which Galina had vomited out upon her evolution.
Vorden stared at the Metal Slime Spawn now on the bed.
"You…You have…two of them?" he asked in shock. It was the first time he had ever seen duplicates among Tsukuru's Summons.
Tsukuru smiled, as he looked down at the Metal Slime Spawn.
"When Galina evolved into her current form, she kind of…divided, creating this second Metal Slime," he replied.
He then looked up at Vorden.
"I was actually trying to figure out what to do with it exactly," he replied. "It's the only one of my Video Summons who can't exactly fight on its own, the way it is now."
The Metal Slime Spawn let out a cute whine, and its liquid metal body seemed to physically deflate like a balloon, looking as though it had slightly melted.
Vorden tilted his head in confusion.
"Didn't you just say that you weren't going to 'loan out' your Summons?" he asked.
Tsukuru picked up the Metal Slime Spawn, and smirked.
"Whoever said that I was just 'loaning it out' to you?" he asked.
He began walking across the room, over towards Vorden's bed.
"Think of it like how when a person's cat has kittens, they try to give them out to their close friends and family members," he replied, as he held out the Metal Slime Spawn in front of Vorden.
Vorden looked down at the Metal Slime Spawn, its white pupils wide open, and staring back at him.
"You're just…giving it to me?" he asked, as he reached out to take it.
He immediately noticed the Metal Slime Spawn's immense weight, but unlike with Tsukuru, it did not cause his arms to jerk down.
Tsukuru smiled.
"Think of it as me putting my faith and trust in you," he replied. "Proof that I see you as one of my closest friends."
Vorden continued to stare at the Metal Slime Spawn for a moment.
"Does it…Does it have a name?" he asked.
Tsukuru's smile widened.
"That's for you to decide," he replied. "After all, you're the one who's going to be…taking care of it and using it."
Vorden's eyes widened in surprise.
He looked up at Tsukuru, about to say something, but Tsukuru was already making his way back to his side of the room.
The second Tsukuru had turned around and began walking, two System messages popped up in front of him.
[You have transferred possession of your Infantry-Rank Pawn-Grade Metal Slime Spawn to individual Vorden Blade. The Infantry-Rank Pawn-Grade Metal Slime Spawn will always spawn and respawn within close proximity to individual Vorden Blade.]
[You have authorized individual Vorden Blade to complete the Naming Ritual for your Infantry-Rank Pawn-Grade Metal Slime Spawn.]
Once Tsukuru returned to his side of the room, he sat back down on his bed.
He picked up the VR Headset, which was still on the bed, laying on its side due to it having rolled away from his location when he had gotten off of the bed.
Tsukuru turned back to the others, and smiled.
"Well," he replied. "I'll see you guys in a few hours."
He laid down on his bed as if he was about to sleep, and placed the VR Headset over his head.
the two, square lights positioned along the left temple lit up. The whole visor then lit up bright green, completely obscuring Tsukuru's eyes. It seemed that, rather than including an actual power button, the helmet was designed to automatically activate when it sensed the brainwaves of the person wearing it.
In Tsukuru's vision, a System message appeared.
[A Virtual-Reality Simulation Device has been detected.
VR Headset is compatible with the System.
Would you like to be transferred to the System's Battle Arena?
[Yes] [No] ]
'Yes,' Tsukuru thought.
Tsukuru then felt his mind being transferred to the System's Battle Arena.
***
Back in the Main School Building, the duo of Sergeant Faye and Sergeant Shizuka walked down the halls towards the entrance, or in this case, the exit, of the building.
Shizuka turned to Faye, an amused smile on her face.
"So, just what did little Tsu-Tsu not want the higher-ups…finding out?" she asked in a conspiratorial tone.
Sergeant Faye glanced back at her.
"Student Hikiko only Summoning three Beasts at a time is a conscious choice to make us believe he possesses a hard limit that does not exist," she replied in a low tone. "In truth, he could have all nine of them manifested at the same time if he truly wanted to."
Sergeant Faye's eyes narrowed.
"In other words, he possesses his only private squadron," she replied. "A private squadron…that is borderline immortal."