I Only Summon Villainesses

My body felt cold despite the raging pillar of flames around me. The chill sank bone-deep, wrong and invasive. I wasn't sure what was going on — everything was blurry, unfocused. The ringing bell, the scream of people as white flames consumed them and made them run around, some smacking into each other in blind panic, their clothes igniting like kindling.

My senses were muffled against the sound of screams. I could hear them, but they were distant, underwater. Suffocated.

I could also see knights running toward me, donning pale silver armor with blue cloaks flowing behind them like banners. Before they could reach me though, they were consumed by the vicious hot flames. Their painful screams made it to my ears as if being suffocated beneath a pillow — muted, distorted, wrong.

My heart felt heavy.

Felt cold.

This rage... it seemed to have consumed me to the point of nothingness. Like burning so hot I'd gone cold. Like all the fury had scorched through me and left only ash.

Slowly, I raised one leg, pushing myself up. My muscles screamed in protest. I stood straight now, swaying, looking at the pyre on the platform.

'Lira...'

Maybe I could still save her. Maybe, if I reached there first, if I moved fast enough, if I—

I wanted to move but my legs failed me.

I tumbled forward, landing on my knees. The impact jarred through bone. My hands dug into the dirty mud on the floor, fingers sinking into cold filth. The evening darkened overhead and I heard a thunderous roar across the sky in that moment, the clouds gathering like witnesses.

I didn't care. I wanted to—

'Lira... I have to save her...'

My thoughts were insistent, a drumbeat against my skull. My focus was clear. But my body was failing, shutting down. Days in the dungeon had hollowed me out, left me weak. And now this — pure despair, grief so heavy it crushed the breath from my lungs.

Everything felt like carrying the weight of a mountain.

'Why? Why won't my body move? Please, move. Please.'

Digging my hands into the mud, I tried to scramble my way up. My legs still hurt but I yelled, forcing sound from my raw throat.

"Stand UP, FUCKER!!"

With the power of that shout, I shoved myself into a low run — barely standing, already sprinting, staggering around like a child just learning to walk. Each step threatened to send me sprawling.

The moment I started running, the pain dulled. Adrenaline, maybe. Desperation. I shoved aside the burning people, their heat washing over me as I ran toward the platform with nothing but desperation, pain, and hope in my eyes.

'Almost there. Just a little more. Hold on, Lira, hold on—'

However, my body suddenly tingled. A warning, too late. My eyes widened and I turned to the left as a heavy armored figure with a lance like a driller thrust it toward me.

I tried to step forward quickly, tried to turn and dodge. But I was caught mid-movement. The lance tore a shred of my cloak and shirt, the blade kissing skin and spilling my blood into the air as it shoved forward.

With the imbalance, I staggered and fell — but flames shot out of my body immediately, white-hot and hungry.

From the dark visor of his white helmet, blue light flared. He twisted his hand with practiced ease, bringing the lance down in a brutal arc, not even minding the flames raging toward him.

At that moment, my eyes widened.

The flames would kill the Light Paladin — no doubt about that. But I was too open, too slow, too broken to defend myself against his movement.

Just as the spear descended, I heard a sharp clang, metal on metal. Sparks flew. The Light Paladin's cavalier spear flew back along with his weight, making him stagger.

A crimson blade flared into my vision.

'Kassie!'

She was rising from a low position, everything moving in slow motion. In one hand she clutched Emma like a loose bag of potatoes, and in the other, her greatsword had perfectly deflected the Light Paladin's strike. The impact rang out like a bell.

She wasn't done though.

Just as he staggered back, she exploded from that low position, moving with blurring speed. Her knee found purchase into the Paladin's helmet with a sickening crunch. And what I saw next — spikes flew out of her high knee boot, piercing in and out of the visor like needles through fabric, spraying fresh red blood into the air in a fine mist.

The Paladin dropped dead on his back. At that moment, the sky rumbled again and it began to drizzle — faint showers of rain falling from the darkened clouds above.

Kassie, rain dropping on her helmet and rolling down the crimson metal, turned to me. I could see nothing at first. Then there was a faint red glow somewhere deep in her visor, almost like an illusion.

More Holy Light Paladins mixed with Kingdom Knights — blue capes and silver armor — were rushing toward me. Some were being caught in the flames, consumed screaming. The Paladins seemed more stubborn. They used their white capes to catch the flames and simply tore through them, relentless.

Right now though, it wasn't my problem. Kassie would take care of all of them.

I shook slightly, forcing myself up. Then I ran forward, legs burning with exhaustion. I caught Kassie lunging toward the knights from my peripheral vision — a red blur of violence.

I reached the platform finally.

Rain was beating my face, cold and relentless. My black hair was soaked, clinging messily to my forehead and just above my eyes. Water mixed with soot, with smoke, with the taste of ash.

The fire burned low now, but I didn't care. I removed my cloak with trembling hands, spreading it over her to smother the flames. With the slightest pull, the ropes tore — burned through — and her body fell into my arms. Light. Too light.

'Lira... Lira...'

But there was no response. No breath, no movement, no warmth. Just the rain hissing against charred flesh.

I painfully, slowly opened my cloak.

What met my eyes was a completely charred body. Blackened skin cracked like old leather. White teeth peeking beneath the carbon darkness — a skeletal grin.

Maybe I knew. I somewhat already knew, hadn't I? Deep down, the moment I saw the flames. The moment I was too late.

I was just too desperate to accept it.

"ARRRRRGGGHHHHHH!!!"

I raised my head into the falling rain and let out a guttural cry — raw… and breaking. The sound tore from somewhere deep inside me, somewhere I didn't know existed.