Sergeant Faye looked down at the hard-light projection for a moment, before she then pointed the metal tube towards the west wall, directly in front of where all four of them were facing.
Pressing the "play" icon in the center of the hard-light projection, a cone of light-blue light shot out of the camera lens on the front of the tube, like a high-powered flashlight.
The light created a large, rectangular "screen" on the far wall, equivalent to that of a 55-inch TV.
Static crackled on the "screen", and soon, an image began to take shape.
As the image on the "screen" stabilized, the image came into view.
On the screen, the group of four all saw what looked like a rather large room.
In the back, there was an elevated stage with drawn curtains, completely hiding whatever was behind them.
Connecting the ground floor to the elevated platform was a single flight of stairs.
Standing in front of the center of the east wall in the room, Sergeant Faye could be seen, standing there with her arms crossed, looking like a sentry.
Edward raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"What is this place?" he asked. "Some room in this 'military base' Leader Muka spoke of?"
Shizuka leaned back in her chair, folding her arms behind her neck.
"It's the Assembly Hall of the school located on the base," she replied.
A moment later in the feed, a group of students began to emerge from somewhere off-screen, most likely being the doors leading into the Assembly Hall.
Both Muka and Edward leaned forwards in their chairs as the students entered.
The first person who entered into view was Vorden, who was quickly followed by Layla.
After her, a group of six more entered the room.
On the left side in the front of this group stood Tsukuru, with Galina on his left and Starrk on his right, standing in his typical slouched, lazy posture.
The two Vampire Leaders stared at the Galina and Starrk with a look of confusion.
Starrk easily stood out among the group because, not only was he wearing a completely different outfit than the navy-blue uniforms worn by the others, he was also significantly older than them.
And Galina caught the attention of the two watching Vampires due to the fact that she didn't look "real" in the biological sense. Rather than appearing to be made of flesh, her whole body looked like some kind of metallic-silver liquid had been pressed into the mold of the shape of a young girl.
Standing directly to the right of Starrk was Quinn.
Behind them in the group stood Erin and Peter, with Erin standing behind Quinn and Peter standing behind Tsukuru.
Peter could be seen clutching the Advanced-Tier Mud Pouch in his hands as if it were some kind of family heirloom.
Muka and Edward stared at the group of gathered students with a scrutinizing gaze.
They noticed that, with the sole exception of Peter, all of the students wearing the same military outfit that they could see both Sergeant Faye and Shizuka wearing at the table had armor covering the entirety of their bodies down to their thighs, with it even covering a majority of their upper arms, as well as a set of gauntlets.
And it wasn't just that they were wearing armor and gauntlets, they were wearing the exact same armor and gauntlets.
"Alright," Edward replied. "So which one of these kids is Vincent's successor?"
Muka narrowed her eyes at the screen.
"Yes," she agreed. "Which one is this 'Quinn Talen'?"
Sergeant Faye paused the video, and turned to Muka while pointing at a certain point on the screen.
"He's the second boy in the front," she replied. "The one with the black, curly hair."
Edward's eyes tightened.
"Hmm," he replied. "That would explain why he looks so…physically fit."
He then turned to Sergeant Faye.
"You said that this 'military base' also doubles as a school?" he asked. "Does that mean that the older-looking man with the short blonde hair is a teacher? And…what about that…little girl next to the small blonde-haired boy? She…She doesn't even look real to be completely honest."
Sergeant Faye let out a sigh.
"The girl is…a 'Beast' that Student Hikiko created using his Ability," she replied before glancing away.
"One of many," she replied under breath, but considering that everyone here with the exception of Shizuka had enhanced hearing, she might as well have been shouting it.
"And no, the older-looking man with the brown hair isn't a teacher," she replied. "He's…"
Sergeant Faye stopped, her face scrunched up into a puzzled look, as if she was racking her brain trying to find an accurate way to describe just what Coyote Starrk was.
Shizuka glanced back at them, her eyes narrowed.
"He's someone that Tsu-Tsu…recruited," she replied.
Both Muka and Edward turned to her, eyebrows raised in confusion.
"'Recruited'?" Edward asked.
Shizuka let out a sigh.
"It's…kind of hard to explain," she replied, her eyes narrowed.
Muka stared at Shizuka for a moment.
"Try me," she replied.
Shizuka pinched the bridge of her nose, as she tried to figure out just how to explain the exact circumstances around Starrk's arrival in the "real world", as it was hard enough to explain it to those who already knew about Tsukuru's Ability.
Shizuka turned back to the Vampire Leader.
"To explain that, you first need to know about Tsu-Tsu's Ability," she replied, before her eyes narrowed. "It's…significantly different from most other Abilities out there. In fact, up until this evening, I was confident that there wasn't a single Ability in all of existence that was even remotely similar to it."
Edward's eyes narrowed.
"And what changed this evening to…change your opinion?" he asked.
Before Shizuka could answer, Sergeant Faye spoke up.
"She came here," she replied, causing both Muka and Edward to turn to her. "The way Lady Muka described this Ability of the Tenth Family…it is remarkably similar to the New-Gen Original Ability possessed by student Hikiko Tsukuru."
Both Vampires looked at Sergeant Faye as if she had just grown a second head.
There was a long pause in the room.
"A Human…possesses an Ability comparable to the Vampire Ability of the Tenth Family?" Muka asked, her eyebrow raised. "I find that…hard to believe."
Sergeant Faye's eyes narrowed.
"It's the truth," she replied bluntly. "As Shizuka had already said, even among all of the numerous, quite possibly millions, of Abilities known to the Human race, there is not a single Ability out of them that is even similar to student Hikiko's."
She glanced over to Shizuka.
She knew how…protective the woman was over her brother, and was not sure just how much she could say without rousing the other girl's anger.
Seeing the look, Shizuka narrowed her eyes.
"What are you looking at me for?" she asked in a sharp tone. "Go ahead, tell them. From what you've told me, there is already a Vampire Leader of the 'opposing side' who you've…already told of Tsu-Tsu's ability."
Shizuka's words cut through Sergeant Faye deeper than any blade could have.
"I was under the Influence Skill," she replied in a low tone.
Shizuka gave Sergeant Faye a look that told her that Shizuka didn't care about the details.
All that mattered to her was that someone who, given the deaths of the eight privates on Pioletic, had already proven that they were actively hostile towards them knew about Tsukuru's Ability.
Sergeant Faye let out an exhausted sigh, and turned back to Muka.
"Student Hikiko's Ability is…quite unique," she replied. "It's almost impossible to classify it into a certain category, as it seems every time I encounter him, he's gained a completely new Skill, most of which seem to be only tangentially connected to one another. But if I had to describe it as simply as possible, I'd say that it is a…'creation' Ability."
The eyes of Muka and Edward both blinked a few times as the two took in Sergeant Faye's words, processing them.
"A 'creation' Ability?" Muka finally replied. "That is…exceptionally vague, is it not?"
Edward nodded in agreement.
"Indeed," he replied. "There are countless Abilities that could be categorized as 'creation' Abilities. In fact, my own Ability even falls under that criteria."
He lifted up his hand, and a thick, sustained plume of red mist came off of it, as if the man had a colored fog machine hidden up his sleeve.
Sergeant Faye wore an unreadable expression.
"Perhaps," she conceded. "But all of those Abilities revolve around the creation of a single thing, such as a specific element or material. Student Hikiko's Ability is…different."
Her eyes narrowed.
"His power is creation…itself," she replied.