Tsukuru smiled.
"As you are new, you lack a name, like my other children possess," he replied. "I wish to rectify that by bestowing you with a name."
Logan gave Tsukuru a side-ways glance.
"'Children'?" he asked, an eyebrow raised.
Tsukuru glared at him.
"Yes, children," he replied in a sharp tone. "I created them using my Ability. In what way does that not make me their father?"
"That also means that you have, what, seven daughters?" Logan asked in a deadpan tone.
Tsukuru's glare intensified, and he gave Logan a hard elbow.
Logan let out a grunt of pain, as Tsukuru's superior strength made the elbow jab feel like a punch to Logan's gut.
The Gargoyle then looked up at Tsukuru.
"Very well, My Liege," she replied, bringing her right hand up from her knee and towards her heart. "Please, assign me whichever name you deem worthy."
Tsukuru turned his attention back from Logan to the Gargoyle.
He smiled.
Unlike with Gobkiko, he knew the perfect name for the Gargoyle, given how they looked like a dead ringer for another female Gargoyle from an old cartoon he used to watch.
'Since they share her likeness, I'll just name the Gargoyle after her namesake.' he thought.
"From this day forward," Tsukuru replied. "Your name is Demona."
A set of two System messages then appeared in front of Tsukuru, with one being larger than the other.
[Naming Ritual complete. Infantry-Rank Pawn-Grade Gargoyle will now be known as Demona.]
[Name: Demona
Race: Gargoyle
Rank: Infantry
Grade: Pawn
Pawn Points: 0/5]
The now named "Demona"bowed her head again.
"Thank you, my liege," she replied. "I will cherish this name for all eternity."
Tsukuru nodded, and then waved his hand, dismissing Demona back to his Video Arsenal.
Demona's body broke apart into pixels.
Tsukuru then narrowed his eyes.
There was one last thing he wanted to do.
He glanced over at his "bag" which was propped against the corner of Logan's room near the door.
The "bag" that he used to carry Galina around.
Inside the mesh of the "bag", the ovular, blob-like body of Galina could be seen.
"Galina," Tsukuru called.
Immediately, Galina's liquid-metal body leaped out of the "bag", before then landing on the floor of Logan's room.
Due to her weight, a loud bang was heard. It was as if somebody had just dropped a bowling ball on the floor.
Galina's body then solidified into a ball, and she rolled over to the bed.
Logan watched her in intrigue as she rolled.
It was like watching a bowling ball that had a mind of its own.
She stopped right in front of Tsukuru, her body returning back to her ovular, blob-like shape.
"Yes, master?" she asked.
Tsukuru smiled warmly at her.
"Galina, it's finally time for you to join your other sisters at the Elite-Pawn Grade," he replied.
With the sole exception of Demona, who Tsukuru had literally just obtained, Galina was the only one of his Summons who was still stuck at the Pawn Grade.
But due to the eight Pawn Points he had received from his new Level Up, Tsukuru could now change that.
"You mean, Galina gets to be strong like the others?!" she asked, a tone of excitement in her voice, as she happily jumped up and down on the floor, making the room shake and for banging noises to be heard. "Yay! Thank you, master!"
Still nursing his rib, Logan's face scrunched up into a look of slight annoyance.
"Can you tell your blob to knock it off?!" he asked. "She's going to destroy my floor!"
Tsukuru let out a chuckle.
"Alright, alright, Galina," he replied in a placating manner. "Just calm down."
Immediately, Galina stopped bouncing.
Tsukuru brought up his System's UI, and pressed the icon for the "Summons" Tab.
This would be his first time accessing it without the intention of creating a new Summon.
The System screen popped up in front of him.
On it, Tsukuru could see a line of six rounded squares. The first four squares showed a close-up image of the Haunted Knight, Harpie, Amazon, and Metal Slime Summon races, all of which showed them down to their shoulders.
The last two squares were completely blank, them being his two empty Racial Slots.
At the very bottom of the screen, there was a row of three more squares up against the lower-right corner.
These showed close up images of the Dark Elf, Hobgoblin, and Gargoyle Summon Races.
Near the center of the right side of the System screen, there was a strange right-facing triangle, looking similar to an arrow.
As Tsukuru pressed it, the screen changed.
The rounded square all vanished, and the screen was completely empty, except for two somewhat large rectangles in the middle of the screen, placed side-by-side like a pair of buttons.
[Infantry] [General]
As Tsukuru pressed the "Infantry" option, it lit up brightly and an electronic beep was heard.
The screen changed again.
Now, it showed a grid pattern, looking similar to the layout for his System's Inventory and Equipment Tab.
The left side of the screen had a long line of squares going downwards, each showing one of the four Summon Races Tsukuru had created up to this point.
On top of that, the top image, the one showing the Haunted Knight Summon Race was illuminated, while the other three were not, appearing to almost faded.
Although Tsukuru couldn't see the images of the Summon Races that he had bought from the Battle Arena, he did see a square on the top of the right side of the screen, implying that the screen could be scrolled down.
There was only a single square of the grid currently occupied, which showed the full body of Artoria.
'The System must organize my Summons by Summon Race,' Tsukuru thought.
He pressed the icon for the Metal Slime Race, causing it to light up brightly, and the Haunted Knight icon to become faded, followed by another electronic beep being heard.
The first image in the grid changed from showing a full-body image of Artoria to Galina.
Tsukuru tapped on the square.
It lit up bright, causing an electronic "beep" to be heard, as well a square with two rectangles inside to appear directly to the left of the square.
[Summary]
[Pawn Points]
Tsukuru pressed on the second option.
It lit up brightly, causing an electronic beep, and another screen overlaid it.
[Would you like to assign Pawn Points to Galina?
[Yes] [No] ]
As Tsukuru pressed "Yes", the option lit up brightly, and a new System screen appeared. It reminded Tsukuru of the "Conversion" screen that appeared when he wanted to convert his Credits into his System's "Gold Coins" currency.
It showed a line of three vertical rectangles, with the first two displaying a "0", while the third showed a "1".
The third rectangle also had an upwards- and downwards-facing triangle on both the top and the bottom of it, looking like arrows.
Directly below the three rectangles, directly in the middle, there was a rectangle showing a single word.
[Confirm]
In the bottom-right corner of the System screen, there was a single rectangle, which read "Pawn Points: 9".
Tsukuru ticked up on the upper triangle, increasing the number from "1" to "4".
He then pressed "confirm".
A new System message appeared.
[Would you like to assign 4 Pawn Points to Galina?
[Yes] [No] ]
Tsukuru pressed "Yes" again, and a new System message appeared.
[4 Pawn Points have been assigned to Galina.
Pawn Points: 5/5
Galina will now evolve.]
Tsukuru's eyes widened as he read the last line of the message.
'E-Evolve?' he thought, feeling a sharp phantom pain pierce his chest.
He remembered how painful Quinn's first evolution had been.
After all, he had been there when it had happened.
And the thought of subjecting one of his creations to the same kind of agonizing pain, felt horrible to him.
"Galina!" Tsukuru yelled in fear, as his eyes snapped away from the System screens and down to her. "Galina, are you alri-"
His eyes widened, and his words cut off mid-sentence at what he was seeing.
Galina's whole body had begun blowing brightly, nearly blinding the two boys, and her body began to distort. The liquid metal making up her form began to stretch and contort in random directions.
It looked as if an explosion had just been set off in a ball of ballistic gel.
"GALINA!" Tsukuru screamed.
"Master, Galina can feel energy flooding through her body," Galina replied.
Tsukuru gulped.
"Does it…Does it hurt?" he asked, worry in his voice.
"...No," Galina eventually replied. "Actually, it feels good. Galina's whole body feels so energized!"
A moment later, Galina's body began to change shape.
Her gelatinous body blorped upwards, taking on a human shape.
Albeit, a very small one, even considering the incredibly small stature of the two boys in the room.