I Only Summon Villainesses

'What did I even do to—'

Pain screamed through my body, and in that moment, I thought to myself:

'This is supposed to be my soul plane, goddamnit!'

Frustrated in that sudden moment, I barked at her as she descended on me like some deranged angel of judgment.

"Back off!"

The main hall shuddered. Massive silver chains exploded outward with insane speed, catching her mid-air and trapping her in a web of restraints before she could turn me into paste — all in less than a second.

My stomach bubbled with satisfaction. 'The soul plane actually listened to me.'

Shocked at the reaction, I felt something warm settle in my chest.

'This is my domain after all!'

Not theirs. The suffering was finally coming to an end. I could feel it.

As if to drag me back to reality, the chains shuddered. The entire main hall creaked and vibrated with subtle tremors as she pulled her body taut against the restraints, which only grew tighter around her like tentacles. They wrapped around her torso, constricting across her mid-sized breast in a way that looked like they were going to burst. Around her body too — there was something uncomfortably alluring about her figure suspended up there, helpless despite all that rage.

I gulped and quickly slapped myself.

'Wake up, you idiot.'

First of all, I was supposed to be dead. I hadn't even confirmed whether I was actually alive or not. And Kassie — where the hell was Kassie? She wasn't here. I had so many things to figure out, and here I was getting distracted by a homicidal nun's body.

'Priorities, Cade. Get your head straight.'

Meanwhile, the Pyre Saint glared down at me like a twisted zombie, her corpse-like features contorted with fury.

"You deserve to be purged…"

"Huh?" I blinked. "Purged? Why?"

"You miscreant!" Her voice cracked like breaking glass. "Leering at a Saint in… that manner is deserving of death. I thought the King of Gods had smiled upon me the moment that door opened. But to think — a mere weakling like you, a miscreant nonetheless, was what let me into the world again. I will kill you and wait for another chance."

My mouth dropped open.

'This lady is all business. How am I even going to fuck this one when she's got that attitude?'

I inhaled deeply, then exhaled heavily, forcing my racing thoughts to slow down.

"And wait how many more years?" I kept my voice level, reasonable. "Don't be a fool."

People like this needed to be brought face-to-face with the pragmatic reality of their situation. I was their only chance out, and I needed to make that fact ring louder than whatever zealous nonsense was echoing in their heads.

"In fact, how many years have you been waiting already?" I pressed. "Don't be a fool and toss everything away for beliefs that might have landed you in this mess in the first place."

She frowned darkly at me, her corpse-like red eyes flaring with something between rage and consideration.

"What do you know about me?"

Still craning my head to look up at her, I smiled warmly. 'Time to play the negotiation game.'

"I don't know anything about you." I shrugged. "I didn't ask you to come to me. You chose to run through that door when it opened. I'm sure there was a reason why you bolted for freedom the second you saw your chance." I let that hang in the air for a moment. "If it matters at all, I suggest you refrain from trying to hurt me. Otherwise, I'll make sure you rot here and never see daylight again."

She was silent for a moment, still watching me with barely restrained hostility. The chains creaked as she shifted slightly, testing them.

'I can just make a deal with Kassie to keep her in check if this goes sideways…'

Speaking of Kassie — there was the situation outside. I suddenly remembered that I needed to check on what was happening in the real world. How long had I even been in here?

I scratched the back of my neck and said, "Anyways, I need to get out of here and check on my more important villainess. I'll release you now—you better be on your best behavior before I come back."

I commanded the chains to return by simply thinking about letting her free. They dissolved into white dust, and she dropped, landing hard on one knee with a heavy thud that echoed through the hall. She straightened slowly, then looked at me with that blank, unreadable expression.

"I will keep watching you… miscreant."

I waved her away dismissively and turned my back on her. 'If she was going to attack, she'd have done it already.'

As I walked away, the scenery shifted and dissolved around me, and suddenly I was back in reality. My body felt heavy again, real again.

'That was easier than expected.'

All I had to do was imagine leaving the Soul Plane. Good to know.

I was back in the ice cavern expanse, and — surprisingly — alive.

I ran my hands across my body, checking for my wounds. There was nothing. I was perfectly fine. All the pain was gone, like someone had hit reset on my entire nervous system. My body was still covered with Kassie's lusterless, fitted armor, but underneath I could feel myself — whole, functional, breathing.

'I feel as good as new.'

Better than new, actually. Whatever had just happened in my soul plane, it had put me back together.

And Kassie...

My gaze drifted to the ground just before me, where I'd been lying moments ago. She was sprawled there — almost lifelessly — on the cold ground, with a pool of liquid between her legs. Her limbs were positioned oddly, awkwardly, like they'd given out mid-function and simply collapsed.

'Oh, my Kassie.'

There was no doubt about it. She'd just had the orgasm of her life.

She was lucky, though.

'Not everyone gets that kind of satisfaction on their first time.'

I smiled despite everything and crawled toward her, settling into a lotus position beside her sprawled form. Gently, I moved her head onto my thighs, then started patting her hair with slow, rhythmic strokes.

She'd passed out cold from the overwhelming sensation. And I was the reason for it. It was difficult not to internally gloat about this particular fact. 'I mean, she literally short-circuited from pleasure. That's got to count for something.'

The next second, however, her eyes flung open.

Her brows furrowed dangerously, and in one explosive moment she vanished from my lap with a powerful force that blasted me backward. I went tumbling across the ground like a broken doll, my shoulders hitting stone with painful thuds.

She reappeared a dozen feet away with insane speed, her crimson hair spilling wild across her face and making her look like a recently resurrected corpse — one that had woken up after a thousand years and was suddenly, violently furious about her surroundings.

'Damnit...'

I groaned and pushed myself up on one elbow, my back already protesting.

'I just recovered from a life-threatening injury. Why does everyone want to kill me today?'