Muka turned her head and looked back at the Vampire who had just spoken.
On some level, she found herself agreeing with his statement.
From what Sergeant Faye had just mentioned, it sounded like a Human could just steal a wristwatch from another, and pretend that they possessed that 'Ability Level'.
She turned back to Faye.
"So what's stopping a Human from taking one of these 'wristwatches' off of a dead corpse, and just using it for themselves?" she asked.
Sergeant Faye turned to Muka.
"The wristwatches also contain a heart rate monitor," she replied. "Once a person wearing a wristwatch is critically injured or has died, it will continually send out an 'emergency beacon' that we can track. So if we're following the trail of what we believe to be a dead body and find a perfectly normal person wearing a wristwatch, we'll know that the wristwatch was stolen."
Muka glanced back.
'That particular function sounds like it'd be a problem for Category-B Subclasses, who are essentially undead, and lack a heartbeat to begin with,' she thought. 'Let's hope that this 'Quinn Talen' doesn't end up making any while he's on that 'military base' of theirs.'
Edward put his hand on his chin, a puzzled look on his face.
"This 'Hikiko' boy seems to know an awful lot about Vampires," he replied.
Sergeant Faye turned to him.
"Well, to be fair, he has been by student Talen's side pretty much ever since the students arrived," she replied. "They both share the same dorm room, and they're almost always seen together."
Sergeant Faye pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Honestly, had I known that student Talen was the 'rogue Vampire' on the base, student Hikiko would have been the first person I would have gone to for additionally information," she replied.
She let out a sigh, her shoulders slumping.
"If I had, I wouldn't have ended up puking my guts out on the canteen floor."
The Vampires on either side of Muka all suppressed a laugh.
Shizuka looked at Sergeant Faye with a look of amusement.
"A 'bad batch', huh?" she asked.
Sergeant Faye pinched her nose even harder out of irritation.
'Great,' she thought bitterly. 'Now, Shizuka's never going to let me live that down!'
Edward turned towards the two Military Base 2 Sergeants.
"So exactly how strong is this 'Quinn Talen', anyway?" he asked.
Shizuka glanced to the side.
"Well, he's definitely no push-over," she replied. "Even if we disregard him being able to beat a Level 2.5 in the woods, as he and Tsu-Tsu were fighting together, one of those students who was reported with 'snake bites' on their neck was a Level 3 Ability User."
She put her index finger under her chin.
"Additionally, during the little 'incident' in the Assembly Hall with the Second-Years, he was seen taking down no less than four Second-Year Students, and was apparently able to hold his own against a group of six Second-Year Students."
Sergeant Faye glanced back at her.
"On top of that, he was able to survive on his own for two days on a Red Portal Planet during that incident when he, student Blade, and student Hikiko got stranded on Pioletic," she added.
Muka placed her fist against her helmet, right where her "right cheek" would be.
"Ah, so that's why our proximity sensors on Pioletic got triggered," she replied, causing both Shizuka and Sergeant Faye to look up at her. "And here we thought that maybe you Humans had discovered our existence. It just turned out that a bunch of kids wandered through a Portal."
Shizuka narrowed her eyes.
"They didn't 'wander through' anything," she replied in a sharp tone, her fists clenching. "They were pushed!"
However, her eyes then tightened, and she glanced to the side.
Her face was scrunched up in a puzzled expression, as if she had just remembered something.
"Something wrong, Shizuka?" Sergeant Faye asked, her eyebrow raised in confusion as she looked at her.
Shizuka turned back to her, a serious expression on her face.
"Yeah, I just thought of something," she replied. "Tsu-Tsu and this 'Talen' boy…they've been spending an awful lot of time in the VR Room, as of late."
Sergeant Faye's eyes narrowed, as she realized just what Shizuka was insinuating.
Muka looked at Sergeant Faye.
"It that a problem?" she asked.
Sergeant Faye turned back to Muka.
"Possibly, my Leader," she replied, and Shizuka noticed that Sergeant Faye was speaking to Muka the same way they spoke to Head-General Paul on the base. "The VR Room is where students can rent out 'VR Capsules' to play a VR Game known as 'Power Fighters'."
Muka's helmet tiled to the side.
"And just what is this…'Power Fighters'?" she asked.
"It essentially creates a Virtual-Reality environment where all of the students from all of the military bases can fight against one another to train and hone their skills," Sergeant Faye explained. "Anything a person can do in the real world, they can do in the virtual world."
Muka remained quiet for a moment, as she processed Sergeant Faye's words, and more importantly, what they implied.
All around her, the six Vampires all tensed.
"You believe that this 'Quinn Talen' may have used his Vampire abilities in this VR Game?" she asked.
Sergeant Faye nodded, a cold sweat running down her back.
"Y-Yes, my Leader," she replied.
Shizuka let out a dismissive scoff, and crossed her arms, causing both Edward and Muka to turn to her.
"Even if he has, it's a VR Game," she replied before looking back up at Muka on the throne. "People are more likely to think that he's somehow hacked the game before they ever think that he might be a Vampire!"
Sergeant Faye turned back to her, a serious look on her face.
"Either way, we should probably check the game's back-logs tomorrow after we get back," she replied, a sharp tone in her voice.
Shizuka let out a deep sigh, as if she found the idea to be a complete waste of her time.
"Yeah, yeah," she replied in a bored tone. "I'll ask Logan about it tomorrow. He's the main admin of the game after all."
Sergeant Faye looked at Shizuka with pure shock.
"Wait, Logan?!" she asked. "As in student Green?! One of the students on our base is the admin of Power Fighters?! How is this the first time that I'm hearing about this?! And…how does something like that even happen in the first place?!"
Shizuka looked at Sergeant Faye, the look of boredom still on her face.
"Well, he is the guy who created the game in the first place," she replied in a causal tone as if she was merely discussing the weather. "Why wouldn't he be the one in charge of maintaining it?"
Sergeant Faye's eyes widened in surprise.
Shizuka looked down at her wristwatch.
In the upper-right corner, the digital clock read "20:25", meaning that it was currently 8:45pm back on the base.
She looked up at Muka.
"Hey, can we hurry this up?" she asked. "We've already been here for two hours!"
The Vampires on either side of Muka all had their jaws dropped, a look of shock on their faces.
They couldn't believe the audacity of this Human and the way she was talking to their Leader!
One of the male Vampires of Muka's right side clenched his fists, his face twisted in pure fury.
"Why you arrogant-!"
However, Muka simply raised her left hand up, silencing the Vampire.
"No, Hikiko Shizuka has a point," she replied.
Muka turned back to Edward.
"Vampire Knight Edward, did you bring the device I requested?" she asked.
Edward nodded.
"Yes, Leader Muka," he replied, reaching into the deep pockets on his robe.
A moment later, he pulled out the same rounded cylinder with a camera lens on the front that he had "borrowed" from Vincent's workshop.
He held it up so that Muka could see it.
She nodded in approval.
"Good," she replied, and she began to lift herself off of her throne. "Vampire Knight Edward, Faye Dallum, and Hikiko Shizuka. Please follow me to the castle's meeting room. We'll watch the video recording that Faye had brought there."
Sergeant Faye nodded.
"Yes, my Leader," she replied.
Muka turned from side to side as she stood, looking at each of the assembled six Vampires by her side in the throne room.
"You six are free to go," she replied. "I will call for you once we return. I have no idea how long this recording will be, and I see no point in making you six stand here if we may not be returning for a few hours.
The six Vampires all bore looks of disapproval.
It was clear on their faces that they wanted to disagree with their Leader, but eventually, they all bowed in unison.
"Yes, my Leader," they all replied.