Sergeant Faye pressed the "play" symbol on the center of the hard-light protection hovering above the cylinder, and the video began playing once again.
In the video feed, the four in the room all watched as Tsukuru held his hand out in front of him as if he was reaching for something, and he uttered a single word.
"Summon."
Immediately, the sound of electronic interference could be heard, and both Muka and Edward scrunched up their faces in confusion.
For a moment, they considered the possibility that the device that Edward had brought with him may be suffering from…technical difficulties.
"It's not the video feed," Sergeant Faye replied, seeing the looks of confusion on the two Vampires, and being able to pretty much figure out what they were both thinking. "That sound…it appears to be a by-product of student Hikiko's Ability being activated."
On the screen, they all watched as six clusters of light-blue square and rectangular shapes began to appear in the space directly in front of Tsukuru, each taking on a Humanoid, clearly feminine, shape.
There were six consecutive flashes of light, which created a small glare in the screen, obscuring the space in front of Tsukuru for a moment.
Once it faded, Muka and Edward both looked on wide-eyed at the group of Artoria, Kujaku, Sylvia, Gobkiko, Raksharta, and Demona assembled in front of Tsukuru, all standing in the line in the order that Tsukuru had "acquired" them.
The two Vampires noticed that they all seemed to be in similar height and age to Erin, with the sole exception of Demona, who appeared to be the most Beast-like out of the group.
A moment later in the video, the group watched as both Starrk and Galina moved from being on either side of Tsukuru, and walked forward to join the others, standing directly in front of Sylvia and Gobkiko, who were the two Summons in the dead-center of the line.
As the group looked at the assembled figure, it wasn't lost on either of the two Vampire Leaders how they were all bowing in front of the boy, not too dissimilar to how a Vampire would bow before a Vampire Leader.
'Wow,' Muka thought, somewhat stunned. 'I haven't seen this many females in one place since the last time I had to go visit the Second Family's Castle.'
On some level, Muka had always found the noticeable lack of male Vampires among Cindy's numbers to be somewhat strange, but she really had no grounds to say anything about it.
After all, she was the Leader of a different family, and as far as she could tell, the girl hadn't broken any of the Settlement's laws.
It was entirely possible that Cindy's family did indeed have men in it, but Muka had just never seen them.
And considering the fact that each of the 13 Families were currently at their maximum capacity of 1,500 Vampires each, this assumption was highly probable.
Edward raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"So uh…why are they all…"
Sergeant Faye let out an exhausted sigh, cutting him off.
"We don't know," she replied, turning to face him. "For all we know, it could just be…personal preference."
An amused smirk appeared on Shizuka's face.
"Given the type of media he consumed growing up, it honestly wouldn't surprise me," she replied.
As the group continued watching the video feed, they heard Vorden let out a nervous laugh.
"So, uh…is anybody else feeling outnumbered, or is it just me?" he asked.
Edward let out a bitter laugh, causing the others to turn to him.
"That's one way to put it," he replied. "Hard to believe that there's a Human out there who can just spawn his own personal fighting force."
Shizuka turned to him, the look of amusement still on her face.
"Why are you complaining?" she asked, causing him to turn to her. "After all, seeing as how that 'Talen' boy is supposedly your future leader, doesn't that mean that it's highly probable that Tsu-Tsu will be joining this 'Tenth Family' of yours at some point, as well?"
Muka and Edward both remained silent for a moment, as they processed this information.
If this "Hikiko Tsukuru" truly was as close to the "Talen" boy as Shizuka had claimed, then the idea of him joining the Tenth Family with Quinn wasn't exactly out of the realm of possibility.
But…that was only assuming that he retained his Ability once he did so.
As Sergeant Faye had learned the hard way when Muka had turned her, the process of turning a Human into a Vampire seemed to reset their body, wiping out their Ability in the process.
And a significant portion of the stronger Human Abilities tended to be…incompatible with Vampire Mutant Cells.
But…if he did retain his Ability, it would certainly be beneficial for the Tenth Family.
It was then that a feminine voice was heard in the video feed, causing everyone to turn their attention back to the screen.
"Does he even need to be part of a team?" Layla asked. "He could probably participate in the Portal Outing single-handedly!"
Her question was immediately answered by Sergeant Faye's past self in the video.
"Tamed Beasts are treated as extensions of their users," she replied. "It's the same rule we use for members of the Bree Family who can control multiple Beasts."
The Sergeant Faye in the video turned to Tsukuru, her eyes narrowing.
"Although, that being said, an individual taming this many Beasts is certainly…unprecedented."
In the video, the group of four watched as Tsukuru turned to look at Sergeant Faye, a hard expression on his face.
"Yeah, well, try to keep that to yourself," he replied. "There's a reason that I only summon a maximum of three Summons at a time on the base."
Shizuka's eyes narrowed at Tsukuru's words.
"Well…at least that's one thing you didn't lie about," she muttered in a passive-aggressive tone, looking at Sergeant Faye out of the corner of her eye.
Sergeant Faye pinched the bridge of her nose, and let out an exhausted sigh.
'I should have known somebody who has a well-documented history of fighting against Pure would not take the fact that I have been…with-holding information from her…all that well,' she thought.
In the video, Erin scrunched up her face in confusion.
"Why would one want to keep their full strength hidden?" she asked.
Both Muka and Edward stared at the girl, a bewildered look on their faces.
Given the political environment of the Vampire Settlement, which could generously be described as a "cold war" among the different Vampire Families, they honestly couldn't believe that anyone could have this mentality.
And judging by the looks that Tsukuru, Quinn, and Vorden were all giving the girl, they tended to agree with the two Vampires.
Muka turned to Sergeant Faye, her eyebrow raised.
Sergeant Faye saw the look, and let out a sigh.
"Trust me, Lady Muka, that girl does not speak for all of us," she replied.
Shizuka narrowed her eyes at Erin.
"You know, I always thought that Tsu-Tsu was exaggerating when he mentioned just how naive that girl was," she replied. "Now, I think he may have been on to something."
Sergeant Faye looked at Shizuka, a look of almost shock on her face.
"Student Hikiko…has complained about other students to you?" she asked.
Shizuka let out a sigh.
"Nah," she replied before folding her hands behind her neck. "Just her."
She narrowed her eyes.
"Said the girl was essentially handing her Ability to Jack on a silver platter," she replied. "And if that's the mentality she has, I can't help but agree."
Sergeant Faye felt her heart spike for a moment.
She knew exactly who Shizuka was talking about when she said "Jack".
Sergeant Faye remained quiet for a moment.
"You know," she replied. "I've never heard someone in the military speak with such familiarity about Jack Truedream."
Muka and Edward both had a confused look on their faces, as this name was ringing any bells whatsoever in their minds.
Shizuka turned back to Sergeant Faye.
"Yeah, well, I have been by Oscar's side for the better part of the last five years," she replied, a tone of nonchalance in her voice. "I've sat in on their meetings, and I've even been present on numerous occasions when he has…done his job."
Sergeant Faye's fist tightened.
By "doing his job", it was clear that Shizuka meant that she had watched Truedream steal somebody's Ability before.
Sergeant Faye then heard Muka speak up from her side, snapping her out of her thoughts.
"This 'Jack Truedream'," she replied, causing Sergeant Faye to turn to her. "Is he…someone I should be aware of?"