I Only Summon Villainesses

"Enhanced movement," Kassie began, her voice regaining its even, measured cadence, "is not about brute force, like you seem to be approaching everything else. It's about flow, about balance."

She gestured subtly with one hand, a smooth, almost imperceptible movement that seemed to draw the very air into its orbit. "Think of it like this: your enhanced hearing, you push your Spirit Essence, you feel the world amplify. It's a surge, a thunderclap. Movement, however," her voice softened, becoming a silken thread, "is… a whisper. A constant, intricate dance between your breath, your intent, and the Spirit Essence already within you."

I shifted, and the cloying weight of the bracelets pressed down like an unwelcome, ancient cloak, each link a cold kiss against my skin. The metallic tang of it was almost enough to make me gag. My wrists ached with a dull, persistent throb that had become so constant I'd almost stopped noticing it — until moments like this, when I tried to focus on anything else.

"Breath pattern? Like… meditation?"

The question felt small, inadequate, against the sheer immensity of the concept she was weaving. But one dollar bill was one dollar bill nonetheless.

Kassie let out a small, humorless laugh that barely disturbed the air. "In ancient days, before summoners were even a concept, before the very idea of summoning power from the Spirit World, mortals understood the immense potential coiled within their own bodies. They discovered that by mastering their breath, by synchronizing it with their intentions, they could circulate Spirit Essence. It wasn't about conjuring external forces; it was about refining their mortal vessel, awakening it to its own inherent power, making it more than it was."

She took a slow, deep breath, her breast rising and falling with precise control. The gentle swell was captivating, a subtle rhythm that belied the formidable power it represented. In such a moment, it took more than mere resolve to resist the primal urge to lick my lips. It took the cold, holy hatred for such effortless mastery, for the stark reminder of how I detested things like this… especially at such moments.

'Ah… she mounts heaven upon her chests.'

The thought scraped against my raw nerves.

How could I not appreciate such magnificence?

I felt the dry flutter of my lower lip against my teeth as I unconsciously watched her breasts rise and fall, a traitorous flicker of awareness amidst the crushing weight of my situation. The appreciation was instinctive, biological — and entirely unhelpful when I was supposed to be learning.

But Kassie wasn't even paying attention to me, lost in the current of her own explanation.

"Breath patterns became the very foundation of combat arts. It taught them how to move with impossible agility, how to imbue their strikes with a force that belied their physical strength. Every fighter, every warrior worth their salt, understood the fundamental truth of controlled breathing; it was the silent engine of their prowess."

She pointed a slender finger to my chest, her gaze sharp enough to pierce through the oppressive atmosphere. "Your breath is your conduit. It's the rhythm that dictates the flow of your Spirit Essence. For enhanced movement, you don't just push your essence outwards, like a desperate plea. You guide it. You allow it to permeate your muscles, your bones, your very being, with each exhale, like a gentle tide. And with each inhale, you draw it back, reinforcing your control, knitting it into the fabric of your form."

I tried to mimic her breath, a slow inhale, a deliberate exhale. The air felt thick in my lungs, heavy with the weight of expectation. But the bracelets still felt like lead anvils chained to my limbs, indifferent to my efforts.

"But… how do I guide it? And how does that help with… this?" I gestured vaguely around at my weighted limbs, the crushing, suffocating reality of them. My arms moved like I was dragging them through mud.

"It's about awareness," Kassie said, her gaze now sharp and focused, pinning me in place. "You felt it earlier, didn't you? That moment of… absence. When the weight wasn't crushing you, when it felt almost… manageable? That was your panic, yes, a desperate surge of adrenaline, but it was also a flicker of instinct. A primal understanding of how to momentarily displace the effect of the bracelets, even for a fleeting, impossible moment."

She stepped closer, her presence radiating a subtle, almost imperceptible calm that, ironically, felt more powerful than any burst of raw energy. It was the stillness of deep water, hinting at immense depths beneath an unbroken surface.

"Enhanced movement isn't about lifting the bracelets' weight. That's brute force, the path you're already struggling with. It's about learning to move through it. It's about creating a subtle counter-force, not with a conscious, aggressive push, but with a finely tuned, almost subconscious flow. Imagine a river. The water doesn't wrestle the rocks; it flows around them, over them, finding its own path, its own grace. Your Spirit Essence needs to become like that river."

She closed her eyes and slowly, deliberately, she moved. It wasn't a dramatic flourish or a sudden burst, but an almost ethereal glide. Her feet seemed to skim the polished floor, her body a fluid extension of an unseen current, as if gravity itself had lessened its hold on her. There was no sound—not even the whisper of cloth against skin.

"Watch. Observe the subtle tension in my stance. The way my core engages, but not in a rigid clench. It's a coiled spring, a reservoir of potential energy, ready to release with intention, not force."

I watched, mesmerized. She moved with a grace that bordered on the sensual, yet it was imbued with an underlying power that was palpable, a quiet thrum beneath the surface. A power that I had experienced viscerally when she rode me, a devastation that had felt more threatening than my own severe wounds.

But now, shifting my focus back to Kassie's demonstration, I saw her moving not with destructive force, but with a calm, serene mastery. The contrast was almost disorienting — the same woman who had nearly broken me now gliding like water finding its level.

"So, it's about making my body lighter?"

Kassie opened her eyes, a hint of amusement playing on her lips, softening the intensity of her gaze. "Lighter in perception, perhaps. But more importantly, it's about making your body responsive. The bracelets are designed to suppress your natural kinetic energy, to weigh you down. Enhanced movement is the art of rediscovering that energy, of channeling it with unparalleled precision. It's about aligning your Spirit Essence with your physical form in such a way that the bracelets' suppression becomes… less absolute, a muted whisper rather than a deafening roar."

She took another measured breath. "The breath pattern is key. For basic movement enhancement, think of a steady, even rhythm: inhale, hold for a beat, exhale, hold for a beat. But this is just the foundation. As you progress, the held breaths might shorten, the exhales might become more forceful, guiding the Spirit Essence outward to create a moment of grace, of lightness. Or shorter, sharper exhales to imbue a sudden burst of acceleration, a controlled lunge."

She then removed a piece of her armor, and the liquid thing within it reshaped itself, fluidly transforming into what looked like a black, weightless feather. The feather remained suspended on her outstretched fingertips, seemingly defying gravity. Its edges rippled faintly, as if caught in a breeze that didn't exist.

"This is delicate," Kassie continued, her voice a low murmur. "It requires constant mindfulness, a continuous, quiet awareness of your internal state. Unlike shouting your essence for enhanced hearing, which is a broadcast, you have to listen to your body, to the subtle currents of Spirit Essence guiding your breath, guiding your movement."

She offered the feather to me. "Try to hold it, but keep your breath steady. Don't tense. Just breathe, and feel the essence settle into your fingertips, supporting the feather."

I took it, the impossibly light feather feeling fragile and insubstantial in my palm. It weighed nothing, yet somehow that made it harder — there was nothing to grip, nothing to anchor my focus to. I concentrated on breathing, trying to replicate Kassie's smooth, deliberate rhythm, the gentle inhale, the quiet hold.

'Inhale… hold… exhale… hold.'

I felt a faint warmth bloom in my fingertips, a subtle hum that vibrated almost imperceptibly. But the feather still felt precariously balanced, as if a sudden gust of wind, or even a tremor of my own uncertainty, might send it tumbling to the floor. My hand wanted to clench, to secure it through force. I had to consciously fight the instinct.

"It's not about a sudden surge," Kassie said softly, her gaze unwavering, locked onto my struggling focus. "It's about a sustained connection. Think of it like holding a candle flame steady in a gentle breeze. You don't extinguish the flame; you shield it, you guide the air around it, so it continues to burn. Your Spirit Essence needs to become that gentle, protective shield around your own kinetic energy."

I kept breathing, trying to feel that connection, that elusive flow. The rhythm was starting to feel less foreign, less mechanical — still awkward, but no longer completely alien.

The crushing weight of the bracelets was still there, a heavy, undeniable anchor, but for a fleeting moment, focusing on the feather and the rhythm of my breath, I felt a tiny sliver of that river-like flow she described. A loosening somewhere deep in my muscles, as if something had momentarily unclenched.

It was a fragile sensation, easily lost, easily drowned out by the oppressive reality of my physical limitations, but it was there. A thread of something real.

And for the first time, the idea of truly understanding enhanced movement, of finding a way around this insurmountable weight, felt a little less like a desperate fantasy and a little more like a tangible… of course, incredibly difficult, possibility.

But the brief moment that I felt the weight almost reduce — that whisper of lightness that lasted perhaps half a heartbeat — was all that I was going to focus on instead.

My heart burned with resolve.

'I'm definitely going to master this!'