Tsukuru stared at the wounds in pure and utter confusion. It wasn't as if he didn't recognize the type of injuries. That was the whole problem. He did. But…if he was correct, then this made even less sense.
"It can't be." He muttered. "This looks like buckshot, the kind of spreadfire from a shotgun." Tsukuru's eyes narrowed. "But…that's impossible." He replied. "Firearms don't even exist anymore. And even if they did…" Tsukuru glanced to the side, his finger under his lip as he was deep in thought. "Who'd be hunting Beasts with a fucking shotgun?" He asked. "And on a Red Portal Planet, no less?!"
He stared at the bodies of the ten Rattaclaws for another moment longer. Then, he proceeded to head up to the roof. Once he got there, he looked across the shelter. From the top of the roof, he could see much more of the shelter, as it was a high vantage point. As he surveyed the shelter, his gaze soon locked onto a large building in the distance. It was a sort of storage hanger, a place where supplies were usually kept.
Tsukuru narrowed his eyes at the building. While it was the last place a Portal would be at, someone like Quinn wouldn't know that. Tsukuru smiled. "Looks like I found my next destination." He replied.
***
Back in the arena of the training center, Vorden suddenly came to a stop, as he reached the bottom half of Ian's body. All that was left of Ian was his two legs, and his waist.
"Well, at least you aren't the one who has to kill him anymore." Raten muttered from behind Vorden.
Vorden continued to walk forward, following the trail of blood from when Quinn was dragging Ian's torso away.
"Hey, wait!" Raten said, getting Vorden's attention. "Check his trousers! He still has that Advanced-Tier Crystal! Now that he's dead, we might as well take it!"
Although Vorden didn't want to disrespect Ian's corpse, and didn't oftenagree with Raten, he did have a point. Advanced-Tier Crystals were hard to come by. It would be such a waste to just leave it behind. Abilities only went so far. And typically what truly decided the victor in a fight was Beast Gear. It was the whole reason why Pure was such a threat, despite them choosing not to use Abilities. However, after searching through Ian's trousers, the Crystal was nowhere to be found.
"That's weird." Vorden muttered, after only finding empty pockets. "We know he had it. He showed it to us!"
Vorden then turned his attention back to the hallway, and began walking forward.
"Do you really think it's a good idea to follow that thing?" Raten asked.
Vorden's expression hardened.
"I need to see if that thing really was Quinn!" He replied. "You know that if I don't, Sil will punish bothof us!"
***
Tsukuru looked down over the side of the roof. It was at least a two-story drop back down. A fall from this height would definitely fuck him up. Tsukuru stood there for a few seconds, deep in thought. Then, he slammed the butt of his closed fist onto the flat of his other palm in a stereotypical "aha" gesture.
Instantly, he extended his hand out over the ledge, his palm facing down. He activated his Ability. The sound of electronic interference could be heard, and pixels began to appear in the open air beneath his outstretched palm. The pixels clustered together into a large square, roughly four feet on each side, with a height of the same amount. There was a bright flash of light.
When it faded, there was a "crash mat" floating in the air under Tsukuru's hand, the kind used as a "safety precaution" in the olympic sport of the old world, "Gymnastics". Rather than grabbing the mat with his Video Stasis Skill, Tsukuru let gravity take hold, pulling the mat downwards. When the mat hit the ground outside the building, a small "plop" was audible.
Tsukuru looked down. Now with his landing spot in place, he jumped off of the ledge. As he did, he curled into a ball, as if he was performing a "cannonball" into a large pool. As Tsukuru descended, he felt the wind breeze past him.
'Man, I really hope I didn't miscalculate the size required to avoid me being hurt by the fall!' Tsukuru thought.
Although, even if Tsukuru did get hurt, he had plenty of "Health Potions" in his System's Inventory to heal himself with. Tsukuru hit the mat, causing it to dent inwards at the point of impact, pressing against the ground below.
A moment later, Tsukuru pulled his arms apart, and stood up on the mat. He felt no pain, and no System message had popped up, so he assumed he was fine. Tsukuru then stepped off of the mat, and took off in a mad dash towards the direction he saw the storage building in.
***
Vorden looked around the training center arena. Seeing nothing he could use, he then looked up. When he did, he noticed that some of the metal chairs on the stands had yet to be ripped out, either by Ian or by Quinn.
Spotting the metal chairs, he outstretched his hand upwards towards it. Using Ian's Ability, he attracted the chair towards him. A moment later, the chair was ripped out of the floor, and came flying towards Vorden. Vorden grabbed the chair as it approached him, and held it out in front of him as a makeshift shield. He then began walking forward.
Seeing this, Raten scoffed.
"Yeah, that's really going to do anything." Raten replied, his voice filled with sarcasm. "Did you see the same Beast I did? Why Sil put an idiot like you in charge is beyond me."
***
Down the hall, Quinn continued to drag Ian's body across the floor, looking for a safe place to eat. He turned and turned down several corridors, until he finally arrived at what looked like a sort of "sleeping quarters".
As Quinn approached one of the rooms, there was another door locked with a passcode machine blocking his path. Quinn looked at the door, before swiftlykicking it in, sending the door flying inward. It flew backwards across the interior of the room, before eventually hitting the back wall. The room was mostly empty, as the rooms were designed to be used for a temporary stay. The only things in the room were a single bed, a counter with a built-in sink, and a desk.
Quinn then walked over to the bed, and sat down on it. He brought Ian's torso up to his mouth like the dead Adventurer was a hamburger. Quinn opened his mouth wide, and bit his enlarged fangs into Ian's neck once again. Like before, the System messages began to appear.
[Blood is being consumed. 35/100 milliliters consumed.]
[42/100 milliliters consumed.]
As Quinn continued to drink Ian's blood, the System messages kept coming. Eventually, the final System message appeared.
[100/100 milliliters consumed. A sufficient amount of blood has been consumed. [Crazed] Bloodsucker transformation will now end.
Your mind is beginning to stablize…]
Almost instantly, shootingpain started to flood Quinn's body once again. And as it did, Quinn's body began to revert back to normal. His claw-like hands shrunk down, and his hands turned back to normal. His incredibly tight skin began to soften. His ears were no longer pointed, and his teeth turned back to normal. Additionally, the black in his eyes receded, allowing the whites of his eyes to become visible once again.
As he turned back to normal, Quinn started to huff and pant heavily. His whole body felt sore, and his head was ringing like crazy. Then, memories came flooding to him. The memories of everything he had done as a Crazed Bloodsucker.
Even though he had no control over his actions during that state, he felt like he was there every step of the way. It was like watching somebody else piloting his body, while he was stuck in the passenger's seat.
"Vorden?" Quinn muttered, as he saw Vorden appear in the memories. "What's he doing here?"
He had no idea that Vorden was on the planet. Last time he saw Vorden, he and Tsukuru were still in that restricted training room, watching him fall in. As a matter of fact, the last thing Quinn could remember before falling through was Tsukuru rushing towards him, trying to grab him.
Quinn's eyes then widened.
"Wait…did they…come here to rescue me?" Quinn replied in a shocked voice.