Starrk's eyes scanned the five women kneeling before Tsukuru, as well as the strange ball. Seeing them reminded him of one of his old comrades, Tier Harribel. She had been the onlyfemale among the Espada, and all her Fracciónes, an Espada's underlings, had also been female.
Starrk let out an amused snort.
"So I'm the only male in your army, huh?" he asked.
Tsukuru glanced away and let out a nervous laugh.
"So…what are their names?" Starrk asked.
Instantly, Tsukuru's eyes widened. It was just now dawning on him that he had never given any of them proper names!
Tsukuru let out a deep sigh, and his shoulders slumped. He turned back to Starrk and pressed his palm against his forehead.
"I'm such a shitty creator," he muttered in a depressed tone. He began to shake his head back and forth. "How was giving them names not the first thing I did?!"
It was most likely because the System had never prompted him to. He was so used to video games, where giving things names wasn't required. Because they always already had one by default!
"Don't say such things, my liege!" A voice replied from behind Tsukuru. It had a ghostly quality to it and sounded like it was being distorted from being in a helmet.
Tsukuru glanced back towards the five Summons.
"You are a glorious creator!" the voice replied, and Tsukuru could tell that it was coming from the Haunted Knight.
Tsukuru narrowed his eyes.
"Even before a child is born, the parents are deciding its name!" Tsukuru retorted. "The fact that such a simple fact slipped my mindis unacceptable."
'And I refuse to allow this to continue for a moment longer,' he thought.
Tsukuru stared at the Haunted Knight and racked his mind for a name that would fit her.
It was then that a certain scene from one of his shows flashed in Tsukuru's mind.
It depicted a young woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. Her hair was pulled back into a braid, which was wrapped around the back of her head. Two long bangs extended down from either side of her face down to her shoulders, covering the spots between her eyes and her ears. She wore a flowing, dark-blue dress with long sleeves. Over the dress, she wore a sleeveless steel chestpiece, steel bracers on her forearms, and faulds that reached down her sides. She stood in that same "Knight's Sentry" pose. Her hands rested on a sword with a golden guard, curved downwards in a crescent moon, and a blue handle.
Seeing the image in his mind, Tsukuru smirked. He now knew the perfect name.
"Haunted Knight," Tsukuru replied, causing the armored figure to raise her head. "From this moment, your name will be Artoria."
As soon as Tsukuru uttered those words, Artoria's whole body began to glow. The light then faded.
A set of two overlapping System messages then appeared in front of Tsukuru.
[Naming Ritual has been completed. Your Infantry Rank Elite Pawn Grade Haunted Knight will now be known as Artoria.]
[Name: Artoria
Race: Haunted Knight
Rank: Infantry
Grade: Elite Pawn
Pawn Points: 7/15]
"Th-Thank you, my liege!" Artoria replied, bowing her head again.
Tsukuru then changed his attention to the Harpie. As he did, another image appeared in his head.
It was an image of a woman. The woman appeared to be in her early twenties. She had purple eyes and had long blonde hair that reached down her back. She wore a purple, sleeveless jacket with a popped collar that reached down to her hips with a low-cut white corset with purple lace underneath. She also wore detached white sleevesthat reached from her biceps to cover her hands, looking like fingerless gloves. She also wore a purple miniskirt, as well as purple boots with stiletto heels that reached up to her calves.
She had her right arm down to her side, and her left arm crossed against her chest. Fastened to her right arm was some sort of electronic device that looked like a large circle with an attached segmented blade on the side. There was a set of five blue rectangles going across the "blades". Each rectangle had a red triangle inside it. In the woman's left hand, she held a card with a brown background between her index and middle fingers.
Behind the woman were three Humanoid Harpies. Two of them had wings with purple feathers, while the third had green feathers. All three harpies wore gold chestpieces. While one of the Harpies looks identical to Tsukuru's, theother two had different hairstyles. One had spiky blue hair, and the third had short orange hair, with a thick cluster of bangs that reached down the right side of her face to her cheeks.
Tsukuru smiled at the image.
"Harpie," he replied, causing the winged creature to look up at him. "Your name will be Kujaku."
Like with Artoria, Kujaku's body began to glow for a moment.
A similar set of overlapping System screens appeared in front of Tsukuru.
[Naming Ritual has been completed. Your Infantry Rank Elite Pawn Grade Harpie will now be known as Kujaku.]
[Name: Kujaku
Race: Harpie
Rank: Infantry
Grade: Elite Pawn
Pawn Points: 2/15]
Kujaku then lowered her head.
"Thank you, my liege," she replied.
Tsukuru then turned his attention to the Dark Elf. Unlike with the last two, no anime characters came to mind for inspiration for a name.
Tsukuru thought hard for a moment.
"Dark Elf," he eventually replied.
She looked up at him.
"Your name will be…Sylvia," he replied, picking a name that sounded vaguely elf-like.
Like with the other two, Sylvia's body lit up for a moment, and a set of overlapping System messages appeared in front of Tsukuru.
[Naming Ritual has been completed. Your Infantry Rank Elite Pawn Grade Dark Elf will now be known as Sylvia.]
[Name: Sylvia
Race: Dark Elf
Rank: Infantry
Grade: Elite Pawn
Pawn Points: 0/15]
Sylvia bowed her head.
"Thank you, my liege," she replied.
Tsukuru then turned his attention to the Hobgoblin.
However, as he tried thinking of a name, nothingwas coming up.
The Hobling looked up and stared at Tsukuru, a somewhat pleading look on her face.
Tsukuru and the Hobgoblin stared at each other for a few moments.
Eventually, Tsukuru let out a sigh.
"Gobkiko," he replied eventually in a defeated tone and an apologetic look on his face. "Your name is Gobkiko."
Tsukuru thought that it was an utterly stupid name, and apparently, Reiju agreed. Because moments later, her voice rang through his head.
"Really?!" she asked.
Tsukuru glanced to the right.
'You try coming up with a good name for a Goblin!' he shot back.
Nonetheless, moments later, Gobkiko's body began to glow, and a set of overlapping System messages appeared in front of Tsukuru.
[Naming Ritual has been completed. Your Infantry Rank Elite Pawn Grade Hobgoblin will now be known as Gobkiko.]
[Name: Gobkiko
Race: Hobgoblin
Rank: Infantry
Grade: Elite Pawn
Pawn Points: 0/15]
Tsukuru let out another sigh. He then turned his attention to the last Humanoid Summon, the Amazon.
After thinking for a moment, Tsukuru settled on a name.
"Amazon," Tsukuru replied, causing the woman to look up at him. "Your name will be Rakshara."
Rakshara's body lit up, and the set of overlapping System messages appeared.
[Naming Ritual has been completed. Your Infantry Rank Elite Pawn Grade Amazon will now be known as Rakshara.]
[Name: Rakshara
Race: Amazon
Rank: Infantry
Grade: Elite Pawn
Pawn Points: 0/15]
Rakshara then bowed her head.
"Thank you, my liege," She replied.
Tsukuru then glanced to the side, his eyes narrowing.
'Why do I feel like I'm missing something?' he thought in confusion.
A moment later, he got his answer.
"Master!" A high-pitched, feminine voice that sounded somewhat cute rang out.
Tsukuru's eyes widened, and his gaze snapped down. When he did, he saw the Metal Slime Spawn. Her eyes were watering just like how they had during their first interaction.
"What about me?!"
Tsukuru's face morphed into a gentle smile.
"Oh, of course!" he said, as he reached down and picked up the Metal Slime Spawn. "How could I forget about you?" he asked.
He held the Metal Slime Spawn high above his head.
"Your name will be Galina!" he replied.
A moment later, the body of the Metal Slime Spawn began to glow, and two overlapping System messages appeared.
[Naming Ritual has been completed. Your Infantry Rank Pawn Grade Metal Slime Spawn will now be known as Galina.]
[Name: Galina
Race: Metal Slime Spawn
Rank: Infantry
Grade: Pawn
Pawn Points: 1/5]
"Yay!" Galina replied happily. "I'm Galina the Metal Slime!"
Tsukuru smiled.
"Yes, you are!" he agreed.
A moment later, a new System message appeared.
[You have successfully named all of your Video Summons. You have completed your first Naming Ritual.
You have received 3 Summon Points.
Summon Points: 14 ]