Sergeant Faye remained silent for a moment, before letting out a deep exhale.
"Jack Truedream is…the linchpin holding the Human race together," she replied, glancing away. "Whenever somebody acts up among the Humans, he shows up and…takes away their Ability."
Muka and Edward stared at Sergeant Faye, blinking a few times.
"There's a Human who can…steal a person's Ability?" Muka asked.
Edward turned to her.
"How is this the first we've heard of this?" he asked.
Muka turned back to him.
"Most likely because the Vampire Scouts didn't deem it important enough to report back," she replied. "After all, their only job is to alert us if the Humans learn of our existence, or if something has the potential to be a threat to us. I doubt they really care about the politics among the Humans."
Shizuka turned to the two Vampires, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.
"Hang on, what do you mean, 'Vampire Scouts'?" she asked with a certain sharpness in her tone. "Are you saying…that there are others like Faye in the military?"
Muka remained quiet for a moment.
Internally, she was calculating just how much to tell this girl.
"...Yes," she eventually replied. "Although, it's not just your military. We Vampires have planted scouts in just about every group and faction among the Human race, to report back to us whenever they find news that is…troubling."
Shizuka's eyes tightened even further.
It was clear that she did not like that answer.
She was essentially being told that the military, as well as all the Original Families, major corporations, and even Pure, have secretly had spies in their ranks for potentially years.
Edward turned to Shizuka.
"It's really nothing that you need to concern yourself with, Hikiko Shizuka," he replied. "Like Leader Muka has already said, the Vampire Settlement cares nothing about your politics. We merely want to make sure that your kind does not discover the existence of ours. We have managed to keep our world separate from yours for generations, we have no need to interfere with your matters."
Shizuka's face hardened.
"What about blood?" she asked, before her eyes darted over towards Sergeant Faye, a look of slight hostility beginning to appear on her face. "Given what Faye did to me earlier tonight, it seems that you still require our blood for sustenance. How do I know that you Vampires aren't just kidnapping people off the streets and bringing them back here to be used as blood sources."
Muka remained silent for a moment.
"We don't do that…anymore," she replied. "We've created our own…alternative way to obtain the blood we need. Do you really think that we would have completely isolated ourselves from you if we were still dependent on your blood?"
Shizuka gritted her teeth, and turned back to the screen.
On it, she saw Tsukuru turn his attention from Erin back to his nine "Summons".
"Alright, listen up!" he announced, sounding like a general addressing his troops. "Three days from now, we'll all be heading out on our first Portal Outing! I'll be counting on you all to do your best!"
The face of the sole male in the group tightened, a steely look appearing on his face.
"Yes, Lord Tsukuru!" Starrk replied..
Galina clenched her fist and brought it up to her neck.
She put on the best "serious face" she could muster, which Shizuka found to look absolutely adorable.
"Yes, Master!" she replied.
"Yes, my liege!" the remaining six figures replied in unison.
Edward turned towards Sergeant Faye,
"So just what is this 'Portal Expedition' that this 'Hikiko' boy speaks of, anyway?" he asked, an eyebrow raised.
Sergeant Faye turned back to him.
"It's exactly what it sounds like," she replied. "The students will all spend three days on a Beast Planet, hunting down Beasts in groups of five, and will be graded on how well they do."
Edward and Muka both turned to look at each other, clear confusion on their faces.
Muka then turned to Sergeant Faye.
"Five?" she repeated.
Sergeant Faye let out an exhausted sigh, and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"There was a…paperwork error back at the beginning of the term," she replied. "Due to that, we ended up with…an additional student than planned. As such, student Hikiko's class ended up with an uneven number of students, resulting in one of the groups needing to accept an extra student."
Edward turned back to Sergeant Faye.
"So this 'Portal Expedition'," he replied. "It's similar to the trial we give to our Direct Descendents, then?"
Sergeant Faye bit her lip in annoyance.
This whole 'trial for the Direct Descendants' left a bitter taste in her mouth, as it was essentially the reason why the base had lost 10 privates to Lexi Snacker.
"Correct," she replied, an unintended sharpness in her tone.
He turned to look at Edward.
"However, the students go out on these Portal Outings on a far more frequent basis, as they use the Beast Crystals they collect to forge their own Beast Gear," she replied, before she held up her right hand. "From what I can tell, once a Vampire has hunted down the required ten Death Bats for their respective Light Ring, they no longer have any need to travel to other Beast Planets."
Shizuka snapped her head towards Sergeant Faye, a look of wide-eyed shock on her face.
"Ten?!" she borderline screamed in an incredulous tone.
Sergeant Faye glanced back at her.
"Yes, I had the same reaction when I first found out," she replied. "Apparently, it has to do with the exact process used to create the rings in the first place. From what Lady Muka has told me, these rings are not made using the same forging process used to create Beast Gear."
Back on the screen, Tsukuru turned his attention from his "Summons" in front of him, and towards the other students behind him.
"As much of an 'unfortunate accident' as it was," he replied, his eyes drifting over towards Peter. "That little mishap with the Red Portal last week was somewhat of a blessing in disguise. Due to it, me, Quinn, and Vorden actually got a taste of what fighting a Beast was actually like."
Shizuka let out a snort, causing the others to turn to her.
"Yeah, 'unfortunate accident'," she muttered under her breath. "Right."
In the video feed, Vorden" let out an irritated scoff.
"Some 'blessing'," he muttered bitterly, crossing his arms. "I almost died in there."
Tsukuru let out a sigh, and seemed to ignore Vorden's comment.
He looked at the group of five other students as a whole.
"So, tell me," he replied. "Have any of the rest of you ever fought a Beast before?"
Peter was the first to answer, as he immediately shook his head in a rapid, frantic motion.
Layla shook her head as well, quickly followed in turn by Erin.
Tsukuru nodded, and judging by the look on his face, it seemed that he had somewhat expected this answer.
He turned back to the line of kneeling Summons in front of him.
"In the same vein, my Summons also lack experience fighting Beasts," he replied.
The group watched as the eyes of Kujaku, Sylvia, Gobkiko, and Raksharta all narrowed at Tsukuru's words.
It almost seemed as if they had brought up…bad memories within the assembled Beasts.
In the video feed, Tsukuru smiled.
"So, here's my suggestion," he replied. "Let's do mock fights like we do in the Beast Weapons Class. Each of my Summons here is the equivalent of an Intermediate-Tier Beast. If you can beat them, you should have no trouble against the Basic-Tier Beasts we'll find on the Green Portal Planet."
Peter gulped at Tsukuru's words, his body starting to tremble.
"Uh…do I…"
The boy gulped.
"Do I have to fight them as well?" he asked before looking down at the ground. "I…I don't think I could beat an Intermediate-Tier Beast."
Erin's face hardened at his words.
"No one's expecting you to, either," she replied in a cold, blunt tone.
Her words seemed to cut through the smaller boy like a knife, and his shoulders slumped, before he let out a moan of pure misery.
Edward gave the boy a sympathetic look.
'Man, that's harsh,' he thought.
In the video feed, Tsukuru turned to the boy with a similar, sympathetic look on his face.
"Peter…" he replied, causing the boy to look up at him in hope. "Peter…just go practice your Earth Ability off to the side somewhere."
The boy's shoulders slumped once again, and he sulked off in a random direction.
Tsukuru turned back to the others.
"Alright, you guys can decide amongst yourselves who's fighting whom," he replied.