Tsukuru and even Logan stared at Galina in shock. Where there had once been an oval-shapedblob, there was now a small girl, looking to be around nine years in age, standing at around 3'11.
Slowly, the light began to fade. When it did, the two boys took in Galina's new form.
Rather than looking like a true Human, she looked like a mass of liquid metal thrown into a Humanoid "mold".
She had somewhat short "hair" that reached down slightly past her shoulders down her back, with thick clusters of "bangs" going down either side of her face down to her chest, making it impossible to tell if this form of hers had ears.
She had eyes with white, pupil-less eyes that lacked any sclera. Rather, they were simply the same metallic-silver color as the rest of her body.
She also had three thick clusters of "bangs" going across her forehead, and reaching halfway down her eyes.
Her hair was also a significantly darker metallic-silver color than the rest of her body, as if to make it stand out.
But the strangest part was that her "hair" didn't look like "hair" at all. Rather, it looked like liquid metal in the shape of hair, forming dripping goop at the ends of her hair, like a melting candle.
It looked, for a lack of a better term, like slime.
Yet, the "hair" remained perfectly in shape, with a single drop of her liquid metal dropping down onto the floor.
Her new body also had her liquid metal morphed into the shape of "clothes" that covered her body.
It looked as though she was wearing an open rain coat with its hood up, with a jumper dress ending in a short skirt worn underneath the rain coat. Finishing up her "outfit" was a set of rubber, rain boots that reached up to her calves.
As Tsukuru and Logan were standing in awe at Galina's new form, a set of three new System messages appeared in front of Tsukuru.
[Evolution Process complete.
Galina has successfully evolved from a Metal Slime Spawn to an Infant Metal Slime.
Galina has been promoted from Pawn-Grade to Elite Pawn-Grade.
Pawn Points: 0/15
Galina has acquired new Skills.
New Skill Human Mimicry has been acquired.
New Skill Partial Mimicry has been acquired.]
[Human Mimicry
Race-Specific Skill
Active Skill
Galina can now mimic a Humanoid shape.]
[Partial Mimicry
Race-Specific Skill
Active Skill
While in her Humanoid shape, Galina can transform select parts of her body, forming weapons and tools of various shapes.]
The room became dead silent, as the two boys remained in stunned silence at what had just happened.
Just as Tsukuru thought that everything was over, Galina's eyes went wide and she fell to her knees.
As she fell, her hands clasped around her stomach.
"Galina!" Tsukuru yelled. "What's wrong?!"
Galina, however, was incapable of responding, as she began retching and convulsing.
To Tsukuru and Logan, the scene taking place in front of them was not too dissimilar to watching a cat coughing up a hairball.
Tsukuru ran up behind Galina, and slapped her back.
A metallic clang was heard, though it felt more like poking a block of gelatin to Tsukuru, and he saw her body ripple from the impact.
But the slap did it's job.
Like an adult patting the back of an infant to make it burp, the smack caused Galina to spit out a mass of liquid metal.
As the mass of liquid metal flew through the air, it congealed into the same oval shape that Galina had been only a few minutes ago.
In fact, it was exactly the same size she had been, too.
The mass of liquid metal bounced across the floor like a skipping stone. With each impact, the room shook slightly, and a "bang" was heard.
When the mass of liquid metal finally came to a stop, two large, white eyes opened on the center of its body, and blinked a few times.
Tsukuru, Logan, and Galina all stared at the strange blob.
And, as if to answer their collective questions, a set of two System messages popped up in front of Tsukuru.
[Galina has created an Infantry-Rank Pawn-Grade Metal Slime Spawn.]
[Race: Metal Slime Spawn
Rank: Infantry
Grade: Pawn
Pawn Points: 0/5]
Without a word, Tsukuru simply waved his hand, dismissing the new Metal Slime Spawn.
Its body broke apart into pixels, and it disappeared.
The room remained silent for another short while.
"You know," Tsukuru eventually replied, causing the other two to turn to him. "Slimes are known to split and divide when they grow strong enough. So I guess that wasn't as surprising."
Galina then let out a groan, as she clutched her stomach.
"Galina's belly hurts," she replied.
"Yeah, well, you did just vomit up something the size of a basketball," Logan replied.
Suddenly, the sound of hissing pierced the silent room, causing the three to snap their heads towards the source.
When they did, they saw Quinn emerging from the VR Pod.
As Quinn walked out, he came to a sudden stop, as he saw Galina's Humanoid form.
"Uh…" he muttered.
***
At the same time, back in the main school building, the group of Head General Paul, General Nathan, Sergeant Faye, and Sergeant Shizuka were walking down the hall towards the regular meeting room.
Once again, General Nathan was slumping around like a zombie, a consequence of him always being swamped with paperwork.
As they turned a corner, the pair of General Duke and Sergeant Dillon joined their group.
The group remained quiet as they walked, until General Duke eventually broke the silence.
"So what'd your little shit-stain do this time?" he asked in an annoyed voice, as he narrowed his eyes at Sergeant Shizuka.
Shizuka ground her teeth.
"Watch it, Duke," she snarled, as her hand went down to the handle of her rapier. "Don't make me change my mind about not killing you!"
Duke's hands tightened to the point that his fingernails dug into his palms.
'Don't act like that decision is a mercy!' he thought bitterly. 'I would much rather be dead than stripped of my Ability!'
Sergeant Faye then looked over at General Duke, her eyes narrowed.
"And what makes you think that Student Hikiko has anything to do with this meeting?" she asked in a sharp tone.
Duke let out a scoff.
"That little shit has been responsible for almost every single meeting that I've been dragged into since this school year started!" he snarled.
Shizuka's hand tightened around the handle of her rapier. To the point that her knuckle was turning white.
She was approximately three seconds from leaping forward and decapitating this asshole.
"Enough," Head General Paul replied in a sharp tone. "Sergeant Leo said that he had something to discuss that was of a high level of importance. Let's just see what he has to say."
After traversing through three more hallways, the group of six finally made it to the door of the room that had become far too familiar to the group as of late.
Inside, the group found Sergeant Leo already sitting in his seat.
He also had a large dagger on the table that looked as though it was made out of the shiny, black carapace of a Beast.
Sergeant Leo lifted his head up, as he heard the door click open.
The group of six entered the room, and took their usual seats.
Once they had all sat down, Head General Paul turned to Sergeant Leo.
"Alright, Sergeant Leo, we're all here," he replied. "Now, you said that you had something important to show us?"
A somewhat amused smirk crept across Leo's face.
"Indeed I did," he replied, holding up the dagger. "I came across this rather peculiar weapon during today's Beast Weapons Class."
General Duke let out a dismissive scoff, and pressed his hand against his cheek, a look of sheer boredom on his face.
"That is what you called us all here for?" he asked. "Some Beast Weapon? What's so special about it?"
Leo responded by pointing the dagger upward at a diagonal angle towards his left in the air.
Then, he slid the tab on the top of the handle downwards.
The others all watched, eyes widened in shockand incredulity, as the base of the dagger swung downwards, and the blade broke off and swung upwards, revealing the barrel of a gun.
The room remained in stunned silence for a moment, before Sergeant Dillion lowered his sunglasses, revealing that his eyes were just as full of shock as the others.
He decided to ask the question that everyone was thinking.
"Is that…a Beast Gun?"