Shizuka raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"'Bordeline immortal'?" she asked.
However, Sergeant Faye didn't answer Shizuka's question, for she was currently deep in thought, her eyes narrowed.
A thought had just come to her, the kind of thought that was something that has been staring you in the face for a significant amount of time, and you're just now realizing it.
The first person who had ever indicated to Sergeant Faye that there might be something…off...about the Talen boy…had been Shizuka.
Late at night on the first day of school, Shizuka had left to chase after her brother and the Talen boy, after getting a report from the guards posted at the gate that the two had left the school grounds.
When she had returned, she had almost casually mentioned how the two boys managed to beat a Level 2.5 student, Riley Blake.
At the time, Faye had been shocked upon hearing it.
But, perhaps, if Quinn had already been like her, a Vampire, it would explain it.
Additionally, the first time that the base's doctor, Hayley, had noted the appearance of those strange bite marks on a students neck, which is what had led Faye and Muka to believe that there was a rogue Vampire on the base, had been the very next day.
This was either a crazy coincidence, or…
Sergeant Faye turned to Shizuka.
"It's too open here," she replied. "Let's continue this conversation in my dorm room. There, I'll tell you everything."
Shizuka looked at Sergeant Faye with a look of amusement.
***
Back in a certain dorm room in the Student Dormitory, Vorden was looking down at the strange blob of liquid metal was was currently on his lap.
He stared into the Metal Slime Spawn's large, white eyes as he subconsciously rubbed back and forth on the "top" of its body, like one would a cat.
The Metal Slime Spawn had a rather…particular feeling to it. It felt almost like be was touching a strange, viscous, cold gel.
'So…' Vorden thought. '...What do we call this thing anyway?'
***
In the dark space within Vorden's subconscious, Raten, who was in his typical spot behind the chair, let out a scoff, and glanced away.
"How the hell would I know?" He muttered. "I've never even seen a 'pet' before! It's not the kind of thing any of us would be allowed to keep on the island! Even if we did find one, that bastard would have probably just killed it!"
Vorden's face tensed, as he took in Raten's words.
He…had a point.
Back at his home, the designated base of operations for the Blade Family, an isolated island hidden from the rest of Humanity, only known by a select few, such as the leaders of the Graylash, Bree, and Sunshield Families, known as "Blade Island", the closest thing anyone had to "pets" was the numerous Beasts on the Island that one could "tame" using the Bree Family's Ability.
Near the back of the "dark room", Sil's rocking had noticeable slowed.
"Caser," he whispered.
The other two boys turned back to him.
"Uh, did you say something, Sil?" Vorden asked.
"The Beast," he replied in a louder, room-volume voice. "We'll call it 'Caser'."
Vorden and Raten exchanged looks.
They both knew the source of that name, as of how…deep of a wound it was for Sil. "Caser" had been a large reason as to why he was…currently in the state he was.
"Sil…" Vorden replied in a nervous tone. "I don't know if that's such a…"
Sil's eyes narrowed.
"I said we're naming it 'Caser'," he replied in a sharp voice with a tone of finality.
Internally, Vorden let out a deep sigh.
Despite the fact that he was usually the one in control of the body, Sil was, in fact, the mind who it had originally belonged to.
As such, he was the de-facto "landlord".
So whenever he made his mind on a decision, it usually stuck.
"Alright," Vorden said with a smile. "We'll name it 'Caser'."
***
Back in the real world, Vorden looked down at the Metal Slime Spawn still in his lap.
"Guess it's settled then," he replied with a smile. "Your name is going to be Caser."
***
On the concrete platform of the Battle Arena inside Tsukuru's System, a group of eight Swarms leaped at Tsukuru.
Tsukuru simply raised up his Scordana Gunblade, and fired.
A scattershot of over twenty high-Density Glathrium alloy flachette darts shot out, covering a wide area.
The flachette darts pierced the Swarmers in multiple locations, turning them into living pincushions.
The Swarmers all let out screams of pain, before sequentially all exploding into pixels, going from Tsukuru's left to his right in the the area in front of him.
A set of four System messages appeared in front of Tsukuru, and while he had expected the first two, he hadn't expected the last two.
[You have killed 8 Swarmers.
Wave 1 is now complete.
You have received 2 Battle Points.
Battle Points: 11
You have received 100 Gold.
Current Balance: 240 Gold]
[Wave 2 will now begin. Would you like to continue?
[Continue] [Retire] ]
[Individual Vorden Blade has initiated the Naming Ritual.
Naming Ritual complete. Infantry-Rank Pawn-Grade Metal Slime Spawn will now be known as Caser.]
[Name: Caser
Race: Metal Slime Spawn
Rank: Infantry
Grade: Pawn
Pawn Points: 0/5
Skills: None]
"Huh," Tsukuru muttered, as he saw the last two messages. "Looks like Vorden finally decided to name that Metal Slime Spawn I gave him."
He then tilted his head in confusion.
"But…why would he name it 'Caser'?"
***
Back in the real world, Caser remained silent for a moment, then it spoke.
"'Caser'," it replied, testing out the voice. "I like it. Thank you for the new name, Master Vorden!"
Vorden, on the other hand, had almost instinctively jumped back in shock.
It wasn't from the fact that Caser had spoken at all, he had expected that.
After all, it seemed that all of Tsukuru's Summons could talk now.
His shock was from how Caser had sounded.
While the Metal Slime Spawn still spoke in a cute voice like Galina, his voice was very noticeably masculine, him sounding like a four-year-old boy.
That was what had thrown Vorden through a loop, because, up to this point, all of the Summons that Tsukuru had made had been female.
'Well, I guess that's actually for the best, all things considered,' Vorden thought once he had snapped out of his stupor. 'It'd be kind of weird having a girl with an obviously male name.'
***
On the complete opposite side of the school grounds, one of the doors leading to a room in the Staff Dormitory was pushed open, revealing Sergeant Shizuka standing in the doorway, with Sergeant Faye standing directly behind her.
"Alright, we're here," Shizuka replied, before turning around. "Now, why don't you tell me exactly what my little Tsu-"
Her words were cut off mid-sentence, as her expression completely changed.
Her look of amusement turned into a glazed, almost trance-like expression, her eyes glowing red.
Directly in front of her, Sergeant Faye's eyes were glowing red, as well.
"Sergeant Shizuka," Faye replied in an authoritative tone, as she activated the Influence Skill. "Back during the first night of school, you left to go 'check on' students Hikiko Tsukuru and Quinn Talen. What exactly did you see?"
Shizuka remained quiet for a moment.
"Tsukuru and the Talen boy had…attacked another boy, ambushing him as he was passing through the park on the way back to school," she replied, in an almost robotic tone. "Despite the boy possessing a rather troublesome Ability, the two were able to defeat him."
Sergeant Faye's eyes narrowed.
"What happened afterwards?" she asked.
Shizuka paused for a moment, as if her hypnotised mind was trying to dig up an old memory.
"After the boy had been defeated, the Talen boy…began acting rather strangely," she continued. "He fell to his knees, clutching his stomach, and began screaming out in agonizing pain. This pain seemed to last several minutes."
Faye's eyes tensed.
'That sounds just like what happened to me on Pioletic,' she thought. 'Looks like the Talen boy truly was Human when he arrived here. But…how exactly did he become a Vampire, then?'
Sergeant Faye paused for a moment, before continuing her questioning.
"What happened after the Talen boy stopped screaming?" she asked.
"He slowly made his way over to the defeated boy, mumbling something under his breath," Shizuka replied. "He lifted the boy up and held his head close to the boy's neck. Then, a few moments later, he let him fall back to the ground."
Sergeant Faye's face hardened.
It sounded like the boy was about to bite the defeated student on the neck, and drink his blood, but had stopped for some reason at the last second.
To Sergeant Faye, it sounded similar to the mental crisis she had when she had first been turned, with her unable to understand why she had been drawn to all of those packets of blood in that "Emergency Stockpile" room Muka had taken her to on Pioletic.
Given these two facts of information Sergeant Faye had just gleaned from Shizuka, it essentially cemented Faye's theory that Quinn was a 'Turned' Vampire, like her, and not a 'Natural' Vampire like Muka.