At the end of the hall, a man in a police officer's uniform could be seen approaching a wall of steel bars blocking the hall. He had light, tan hair, cut into a military cut, and wore a steely expression. The man slowly approached the bars. As he did, he locked eyes with the well-built man.
Back with the other group, the woman slowly turned around to face the man on the other end of the hallway. Another figure stood against the wall next to them. He had a grey, receding hairline, and wore a tan pressed suit. Underneath, he also wore a light-blue, button-up shirt, and a red tie. The man turned to look at the other man.
Instantly, the man began moving forward. As he did, his body physically moved through the bars. It was as if he was no longer solid, and was made of some amorphous liquid. As the man came out the other side, he stopped moving. A metallic "clink" was heard. Looking down, the man saw that the small pistol in his left hand had gotten caught between the bars.
He reorientated his hand, pulling it and the gun through the spaces between the bars. Back with the other's, the man with the receding hair in the suit had a look of utter disbelief on his face. A cigarette in his mouth fell out onto the floor.
The well-built man stepped forward. As he did, he pointed his shotgun at the man in the policeman's uniform.
"Go!" He replied.
As the man in the uniform stopped forward, aiming his pistol at the group. In response, the well-built man fired a shot. The sound of a gunshot could be heard, and a bullet shot out. The bullet hit the man on the right side of his chest, and he collapsed to the floor. The man cocked his gun, reloading it. As he did, the collapsed man got back to his feet. As he did, a wound could be seen. But it didn't look like a regular wound. The bullet had gone straight through, and the wound was metallic-silver in color instead of red. It looked as if someone had shot a hole through a piece of metal instead of human flesh.
The man in the uniform continued approaching. The well-built man fired another shot. This time, the man was his in the right leg. And just like before, the wound was metallic in color.
Behind the well-built man, the woman had her hand gripped on the back of the boy's jacket. Together, the two of them were booking it towards an opened elevator. The man fired another shot, punching yet another hole into the man. Satisfied, the man lifted up the shotgun so its barrel was up in the air, and headed back towards the other two. As he did, the other man, still filled with holes, continued firing towards them. As he ran, he stepped on a pair of black, plastic sunglasses, breaking them.
The man continued firing, as the man ran towards the woman and the boy. Safely in the elevator's interior, they pressed themselves against the left wall in an attempt to avoid getting hit. The door to the elevator was slowly closing. The man reached the elevator, and got in. As he entered it, he turned back around, facing the man. He watched the man approaching them, still firing, until his sight was blocked by the elevator doors closing.
Outside, the man threw the gun away, and kept running towards the now-closed elevator. A moment later in the elevator, a long sword could be seen piercing the space between the door elevator doors. Instantly, the sword began to change. It shrunk back down, moving like liquid metal, and soon formed the head of a crowbar. A moment later, the two doors were wrenched open. Standing in the doorway, was the man in the uniform. Each of his hands had transformed, become one half of the crowbar.
The well-built man pointed his shotgun right at the man's forehead, at point-blank range. This time when he fired, the man's head split in two. Inside the two halves, that same liquid metal from earlier could be seen. The man let out a scream, and stumbled back. As he did, the elevator doors shut once again.
"What the fuck is it?!" The woman asked, the elevator now going down. "What the fuck is going on?!"
Back up on the floor above, the two halves of the man's head melded back together. His eyes narrowed, and he approached the elevator doors again.
***
Back in the real world, Tsukuru snapped back to his senses. He remained there for a moment, his eyes wide.
"The T-1000…" Tsukuru whispered in a low tone. Then, a wide smirk crept across his face. "Yes…that's it! That's just what I need right now!"
A moment later, Tsukuru assumed a sitting stance, and brought his card binder out of his System's Inventory.
"Now, what to use as a base?" He muttered, as he began flipping through pages. "The T-1000 comes from a completely different franchise than these cards. But…concepts have a way of being…replicated. Who'd be the best match?"
Eventually, Tsukuru came to a stop. He had found it. The perfect candidate.
He was currently very deep into his binder. He had passed the actual "monster" section completely, and was now in an entirely differentcategory.
The cards on this page were all purple in color. Rather than showing "creatures", they mostly showed "actions". One card depicted three sticks of dynamite wrapped together with a chain connected to them, making it look like a flail. A green dragon's skull could be seen attached to the front of the dynamite. Another card showed a man with green skin falling down a pitfall. He hand his arm outstretched towards the surface, a look of sheer terror on his face.
However, the card he currently had his fingers on actually did display a creature. In the text box at the very top of the card, it listed a single word. "Shapesister". Tsukuru looked down at image of the card. At the very bottom of the image, there was a pool of a metallic-silver liquid. However, rising up from the liquid, a figure was forming. It was that of a humanoid female. At the very top of her body, her features could be seen clearly. But as her form got closer to the pool, which was at the start of her thighs,she got…well, for lack of a better term, muddy.
The figure had long hair that reached down her back, as well as three horns sticking out of her forehead. She also wore a type of skin-tight suit, full-body suit that Tsukuru had seen in multiple different anime. Typically worn by pilots of complex vehicles and mechs, it was simply referred to as a "pilot suit". She also had a set of two spikes coming out of her shoulders, as well as the sides of her hips. The female figure was the same metallic-silver color as the puddle. With the only other color being her red eyes.
As Tsukuru was staring at the card image, a System message popped up in front of him.
[Would you like to use this image in conjunction with the T-1000 Memory File as a template for your fourth Video Summon Race?
[Yes] [No] ]
Tsukuru smirked.
"Yes." He replied.
Like with every other "creation attempt" before it, Tsukuru saw a large square appear in his vision. Slowly, the square began to fill up from top to bottom with the "Shapesister" image. As he did, he saw the image being rendered in a 3-D wireframe. Once complete, the image rotated a few times within the square. A new System message appeared.
[Scan complete. The System will now use the host's memories and subconsciousness in conjunction with the scanned image and memory file to create the fourth Video Summon Race. Please give this race a Name.]
As the rectangle with the series of dashes appeared, Tsukuru instantly knew what he was going to name it.
"Metal Slime." He replied. He watched as the bar began to fill up with the given name, the words "Metal Slime" being displayed. Then, the System's "confirmation" noise was heard, and a new screen popped up in front of him.
[Registration Complete. The Summon Race Metal Slime has been added to your Video Summon Arsenal.]
With the creation of the Summon Race now complete, Tsukuru tensed. Creating the Race was one thing. Being able to actually create one was another thing entirely. Tsukuru thought back to when he had first created his "Amazon" Summon Race. Back then, he had to wait until he Leveled Up again to have the required Summon Points for the creation process. If that happened this time, creating the Summon Race would be pointless.
Tsukuru's expression hardened.
"Let's see, I've leveled up approximately three times since I got here. That means I currently have threeSummon Points." He replied. "Hopefully that's enough."