I Only Summon Villainesses

There were a lot of things wrong with this summoning.

Starting with the Infinity Overdrive incident.

If I had a clear grip on my memories, I remembered breaking through the usual essence ceiling. Most of my attributes had evolved as a result, the lodestar scrambling to do damage control on all that overflowing essence before it tore my body apart.

Thanks to that, I survived the overdrive. The effects were still detrimental, though, and in the end it was Kassie who saved me.

After five hours with Maggie, the good part was this: every part of me that had been broken or torn had knitted back together. I felt whole. And each ejaculation had flooded me with so much essence that somewhere in between, I got the notification: I could evolve my Soul Sanctum.

The problem, though, was that I couldn’t enter my Soul Sanctum. And that brought us back to the issue of summoning.

I wasn’t very concerned, though. Slightly, sure, but not to the point of calling it impossible.

When I first summoned Kassie, I hadn’t been in the Soul Sanctum either, though I’d summoned her under specific conditions I didn’t have now. Since the villainess was already at my door, maybe I didn’t need a relic the way I had for Kassie. I still needed a soul orb, though. Maybe, if I wasn’t overthinking it, I could use the physical core of essence to channel the new villainess into reality instead of routing her through my Soul Sanctum.

Which meant someone had to venture out into that horizon and bring back the soul core.

I glanced at Maggie and Kassie.

"What?"

Maggie’s voice came out fierce enough to almost startle me.

She’d have to do better than that to scare me, though.

"We need a soul core to welcome our new friend. Maggie, do the honors and pluck one out for us."

Maggie shot me a disgusted glare and looked away.

"Why should I?"

"Because I said so. You talked high and mighty about the whole point of being a summoner a while ago. Don’t tell me that was all rubbish that meant nothing to you."

A vein on the side of her head went rigid, almost popping out.

"Send the girl," Kassie suggested.

I turned to her with a raised brow and asked, a beat too late, "What girl?"

Kassie tipped her head toward the hall of the temple.

It took me a second to catch it. Inside the hall, a child was running across the pews, and then she ducked down, hiding for a moment, watching the three of us where we stood outside.

"Huh?"

Then, all at once, she launched off the pew and came at us at full speed. It was as though the wind obeyed her, carrying her, throwing her forward, doubling her pace, and even though I’d been expecting her, she blurred too fast for me to react.

Before she could reach me, Kassie caught her by the leg. The girl glared at her and twisted her other leg around, trying to land a side kick, but my hand came down in a chop on the middle of her head.

She yelled, clutching her head, and Kassie let her drop to the ground.

"Oww! Did your mother not teach you how to treat a child?!"

I glared at her.

"I’m sure your mother never taught you how to speak to your elders."

She shot to her feet and snarled at me.

"How dare you speak of my mother!"

"Right back at you."

She went quiet for a moment, clearly turning her own words over.

"I did start it. But I have every right to speak to you like this. I am over three hundred years old, human. How old are you? Have you even lived twenty years?"

I sighed.

’God, like my hands aren’t full already... this wasn’t what I meant when I asked for another villainess.’

"Enough is enough. I’m not interested in you anymore. Out."

As I said it, I grabbed her by one of her ponytails, dragged her to the side, and dropped her on the steps of the building.

But she came hurrying right back, a sad look on her face.

"Wait? What? But you enjoyed using me?"

I chuckled.

"I’ve got something better to use now." I opened my arms and let the flames ignite. "I’ve got no need for a sword that can’t be tamed."

She glared at me and snarled.

"What? You can’t do that?!"

"Oh, yes I can. Last I remember, you rejected me so badly."

She pressed a hand to her chest, yelling as she declared,

"You don’t understand, stupid human! You’re making a huge mistake! I am the Thousand Wave Artifact. I can gain the properties of anything I eat, any kind of durability, I can even be armor for you. You can’t just toss me out. You need me in a place like this."

I laughed.

"No, I don’t. But if you get on your knees and beg, tell me you need me, then I might consider letting you stay with me. You’ll earn your keep by helping us hunt a soul core."

She froze for a couple of seconds, gone completely still. Then a fierce frown took over her face.

"Fine, I’m strong enough to survive on my own!"

She folded her arms and turned away, her white hair twisted into two ponytails that whipped behind her as she stalked down the steps. She had a close resemblance to White Feather, the same shape of face, except Wren’s eyes were blue instead of red.

I watched her head down the stairs, walking arrogantly. At some point, her steps slowed.

"Aren’t you worried about her?" Kassie asked, watching the girl go.

"I think, if being with the two of you taught me anything, it’s that I used to hold back out of some misplaced humility and kindness. I never asserted my place from the start. I was intimidated. Too intimidated, and too unrealistic about it."

I sighed and turned.

"She’ll come back, once she’s tasted how cruel this place can be. She is a sword. There’s nothing she can do without a wielder, and she knows it. She’s just being stubborn."

Kassie gave me a strange raise of the eyebrow and said nothing for a few seconds. Then she let out a small smile and murmured.

"I see you’re learning."

I glared and glanced back.

"Of course I am."

"So what are we doing about the soul core?"

"Tch. We can just go get it ourselves."

Maggie, who’d been silent the whole time, spoke up then.

"I’ll get it."

Then she soared off toward the dark sky.