I Only Summon Villainesses

Kassie's laugh finally receded. I kept my smile plastered on, supportive, encouraging — the face of someone who definitely wasn't internally begging for mercy from that sound.

'I hear it's in times like this that girls need support the most.'

Her laughter was wild, unhinged. If one truly heard it without seeing her face, they'd be convinced it was the bleating of a goat — a goat possessed by something that found existence itself hilarious.

'I like that she doesn't have it all.'

"Wipe that look off your face." The laughter died in an instant, her gaze sharpening to something cold and absolute. "You will never match swords with me. Not now. Not in ten years. Not if you trained until your bones turned to dust."

I raised my chin, meeting her challenge head-on. "Not only will I do it sooner — I'll defeat you."

A devious smirk spread across my face as I extended three fingers.

"Let's make this interesting. If I manage to match swords with you, you do three things I ask. No objections." My grin widened, reckless and hungry. "If I manage to defeat you — you do anything I ask… forever."

Kassie's gaze sharpened further, a dim crimson light flickering to life in her eyes. The temperature in the hall seemed to drop a degree.

"What are you planning?" The question came flat, measured, each word placed with deliberate precision. She was studying me now — really studying, the way a predator studies something it hasn't quite categorized yet.

I dipped my hands into my shabby pockets, giving her my most condescending look — the one I'd been practicing in mirrors when no one was watching.

"What? Scared?"

Her frown deepened, those crimson flickers steadying into something more constant. "It is an established fact that you cannot fight me, let alone defeat me. Which means you are scheming something, and I should be careful." The light in her eyes pulsed once. "If you attempt petty tricks, I will not forgive it."

Every ounce of my demeanor radiated confidence — ungrounded, reckless, possibly suicidal confidence.

"Petty tricks? Is that panic I hear in your voice? Huh?"

She breathed in. Breathed out. The crimson faded as she fixed me with a flat, deadpan stare that could have frozen lesser men where they stood.

'Tch… would've been nice to score a few more hits before she shut down.'

"Since you seem so motivated," she said, eyes closing, a polite smile forming that didn't reach anywhere near sincere, "let us make it a hundred instead."

"You evil witch."

Dismayed by the suggestion, I scrambled backward — three, four hurried steps before I realized something was wrong.

Kassie's eyes went wide.

I paused. Froze mid-step. The weight should have been crushing me into the floor by now. It wasn't. I felt almost... normal.

I turned back to her. She was staring at me, eyes still wide with genuine surprise, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips despite herself.

"Did you see that?!"

For a moment right there, I had moved without feeling the bracelets at all — as though they'd simply ceased to exist. And Kassie saw it. She had to have. That look on her face wasn't something she could fake.

The right corner of her mouth curled upward, and something that might have been approval flickered through her expression. "That was meant to be the next lesson. It seems you figured it out reflexively."

I tilted my head, genuinely confused.

'Figured what out? I didn't figure anything out. I just panicked.'

She walked forward, hips swaying with that infuriating grace that came naturally to her. "How often do you use enhanced hearing?"

"Oh, it's rather addictive these days." I scratched the back of my neck. "It's a way for me to gossip on people, you know?" I reconsidered my word choice immediately. "I mean — surveillance. Ahem. I'm watching over people. Keeping tabs. Very responsible, very mature. So I use it a lot, and it's gotten quite convenient. I can say with Spirit Essence, I hear far better than before."

Another reason I was always using it: there wasn't much else I could use my essence for. It felt wasteful letting it sit there without being spent on something worthwhile to let it replenish over and over again. Like having money that regenerated but nothing to buy.

I'd also tried using some of my attributes that didn't need a target — progressively leveling them up through sheer repetition and will. Especially [Sanctified Immolation] and [Emperor's Presence].

So yes. Not only had I been working out to the best of my abilities, pushing my physical limits against the weight of these damned bracelets, I'd been mindful not to ignore my attributes — my true gateway to getting stronger.

'Yeah… I know. I'm proud of me too.'

But all of this didn't matter without substantial results. Pride without progress was just delusion with better marketing.

"I see." Kassie looked down thoughtfully, arms still folded beneath her chest. Then she unfolded them, placed one hand on her hip — standing like the most stunning angel in the world, granted they had red hair and pale bare thighs that were genuinely difficult to look away from.

Not that I was looking… Much.

"Describe it to me. How does it feel?"

"Hmmm…"

I took a short mental journey through the times I'd used enhanced hearing — even tried enhanced vision, which was considerably harder and gave me headaches.

"It's a little difficult to explain, but I can at least say it makes me feel like I'm stronger than I actually am."

I scratched my head, searching for a better description that wouldn't make me sound insane. "Ah, right. You know when you're arm wrestling, and you groan and push with everything you have, thinking 'I'm gonna break my limit and summon some kind of heavenly strength' — but instead you just end up popping a shit?"

Kassie's expression went completely blank. Whatever she'd been expecting, that wasn't it.

"Yes! That's exactly what it feels like. But the difference is, enhanced hearing makes me feel like I can break a limit — temporarily, in a gentle, mechanical way. Like wearing a gauntlet. Or a hearing aid. Or recommended spectacles, or binoculars. It's an enhancement that extends what I already have rather than replacing it entirely."

She just stood there looking at me. Really lost. Like I'd started speaking a language that hadn't been invented yet.

I paused, examining her with a raised brow and growing concern.

"Hey, Kas. You okay?"

She sighed and shook her head slowly, as though processing something that fundamentally challenged her worldview.

"You're strange." Her voice was quiet, almost contemplative — the kind of tone people used when they encountered something that didn't fit their existing categories. "A strange otherworlder. A strange summoner." She met my eyes directly. "I find it unsettling."

I offered her an honest smile — one of my rare genuine ones. "For one, you're being honest with your feelings. That's growth. Now tell me — what else about me unsettles you?"

She frowned, the contemplative air vanishing. "Don't twist my words. I did not mean it favorably."

I tried to form a smile that looked dangerously calm, mysterious, the kind of expression that belonged on someone who knew more than they were letting on.

"That itself is where the beauty lies. Talk to me, my dear Kas. Let it all out."

She breathed in deeply and raised her head to the ceiling, taking a moment's timeout from my existence entirely.

'Even I can't deal with me. You're doing well, Kassie. Truly.'

She returned her gaze — and immediately, I felt heavy. The weight slammed back into me like a physical blow, the ground calling me to sink into it. My knees nearly buckled.

I glared at her through the sudden pressure. "Kassie???"

"I decided I needed precautions." Her tone was flat, utterly unapologetic, carrying the serenity of someone who had absolute control over the situation and knew it. "You are worse than a headache." A beat of perfect silence followed. "Now. Enhanced movement."