Heroine Creation: All My Summons Are Custom Made

On his left, the air warped and sang as a pillar of brilliant, warm golden light crashed down from the simulated heavens.

On his right, the atmosphere violently ruptured, splitting the sky with an ear-splitting thunderclap as a strike of thick, blinding white lightning hammered into the stone.

The light faded, leaving the two legends standing on the rocky earth.

Astensia took a deep breath, her golden braid shifting in the wind, looking perfectly at peace.

Beside her, Thor immediately straightened up, her white hair whipping wildly around her face. She looked around the peaks and the grey sky, visibly disoriented for a microsecond.

”Where is this now?”

Then, she turned her head, and her piercing silver-blue eyes locked directly onto Lancet.

She froze. Her breath caught in her chest for a second The tether of Grace connecting their souls pulsed, an undeniable chain binding her existence to his. Lancet waited, staring back at her.

Astensia moved her eyes between the both of them.

”You,” Thor whispered.

She took a dangerous step, her grip tightening on the haft of her warhammer. Astensia immediately stepped in, raising her greatsword and blocking the space between the Valkyrie and Lancet.

”Stop it, Thor,” Astensia pleaded. ”We have talked about this.”

Lancet smiled. ”I see you two have met.”

Hearing his voice, Astensia turned to look at Lancet, her face melting into a warm, beaming smile.

”We have, Master!” Astensia said brightly. ”I must admit, I was wonderfully surprised when Thor dropped into the Summon Space alongside me.”

She looked at Thor. ”We crossed paths many times during our training days as young Awakeners. She was already renowned for her impressive control over the element of lightning. With a name like Thor Stormchild, it always felt like she was simply destined to control the element.”

Thor’s eyes never left Lancet. They were scary and blue, harboring thoughts that Lancet was scared to imagine. ”Astensia,” the Valkyrie said sharply. ”You might have been pleasantly surprised, but I was—and still am—enraged.”

Astensia turned back to Thor, shooting her an effective guilt-striking face. ”You weren’t happy to see me?”

Thor stiffened. Frustrated, she looked away for a brief second, the static in the air settling slightly.

”I... mean... I was,” Thor admitted, her voice losing a bit of its thunder. ”To see a familiar face after such a long time in the dark... it is a fond feeling. Truly. But I do not wish to be subjected to the whims of this unimpressive Summoner.”

Lancet crossed his arms, a matter-of-fact look on his face. ”I brought you back to life. How is that unimpressive?”

Thor glared at him, her silver-blue eyes boring into his soul. ”Power and Strength are two entirely different things, Summoner. You might have one, but you are greatly lacking in the other.”

Astensia winced, feeling how hurtful the blunt words were.

Lancet, however, just let out a long, exaggerated sigh. He uncrossed his arms, and unexpectedly dropped down to the hard bedrock. Then he casually sat criss-cross applesauce, looking up at the tall, legendary warrior.

Thor appeared bewildered.

”If you don’t think I’m strong enough,” Lancet said plainly, ”then why don’t you train me?”

Thor stared at him, utterly baffled by his posture and his words. ”Train you? You are supposed to be my master, and yet you want your constituent to train you?”

Lancet shrugged lazily. ”Yeah? What’s the big deal?”

”Do you not have any pride?!” Thor asked genuinely. ”Any honor as a leader?!”

”Are you looking for pride, or are you looking for strength?” Lancet challenged, tilting his head. ”Pick one.”

”I am looking for nothing from you,” Thor shot back, her tone resolute. ”I know a leader when I see one, and it is not you. Besides, the strength I speak of cannot just be taught. It is not a technique you drill into your muscles. It is an intrinsic quality. A person simply has it, and you, Summoner, simply don’t.”

”That is not true, Thor.”

Astensia gently interjected.

She planted the tip of her greatsword into the stone and looked Thor in the eye. With deep, earnest passion, Astensia told the Valkyrie everything she knew about Lancet.

She spoke of how he had pushed himself to the brink of exhaustion every single day since he summoned her. She spoke of his tactical mind, his refusal to hide behind his summons like a coward, and how he showed her the new world, treated her kindly despite being his summon.

Thor listened in silence. As Astensia spoke, the anger in the Valkyrie’s eyes gradually shifted into reverence. But it wasn’t for Lancet.

”Astensia,” Thor said softly when the Knight finished. ”The respect I hold for you is immense. Before the tragedy of Devilfall swallowed us, my party was told of your ultimate sacrifice. You stood alone and held the Greatest Gate until you died, giving the world time to fight back. I honor such a sacrifice. You are a true paragon of our era.”

Astensia placed a hand over her heart, bowing her head slightly. ”Thank you, Thor. But if I, with all my pride as a Knight, could allow myself to be a Summon of Lancet... why can’t you trust my judgment and do the same?”

Thor looked at Lancet, still sitting casually on the rock. For a fleeting second, the harsh lines of her face relaxed. It almost seemed like the logic had reached her, that she was going to yield and agree.

But then, her eyes narrowed, flashing with a renewed stance.

”Because I had not been just any free Awakener,” Thor declared, lifting her chin. ”I was a Valkyrie. I took immense pride in my leader and my holy mandate. I know what I am worth, Astensia. I know my power, my history, and my place in the world’s cosmos. I cannot surrender all of that to this hopeful, plain boy.”

”Well, you’re my Summon whether you like it or not,” Lancet pointed out practically. ”Isn’t it better if we just agree to work together? Maybe we can strike a deal of some kind. I can get you something you’ve always wanted.”

He paused, allowing what he had just to simmer and grab Thor’s interest. ”Like a chance to kill the Demon Head in Devilfall.”

Thor physically recoiled. The breath was completely knocked out of her. Her eyes widened, quivering as she stared at the seated boy.

”Devilfall... Devilfall still stands?” she asked, her voice trembling with centuries of buried grief. ”After all these years?”

”Yes,” Lancet nodded seriously. ”The Demon Citadel is far too strong for humans to defeat. Over the last three hundred years, it’s only gotten stronger.”

Thor’s face showed the agonizing struggle she was suddenly going through. The creaking of her knuckles broke the silence as she gripped the Hammer of Force.

This was a great opportunity for her. If Thor agreed to be Lancet’s Summon right now, she could finish her mandate. She could avenge her master, kill the Demon Head and wipe the stain of her failure from the earth.

She lowered her head as a single, hot tear fell down her pale cheek.

”If I accept you as my master simply because I want something...” Thor whispered, her voice choked with emotion before she forced it back into a militant cadence. ”...then I have done something fundamentally against my code.”

She raised her head just enough for her eyes to meet his. Lancet saw the pain and the struggle, the memories that he himself had given her.

”I terribly want to charge into Devilfall,” she husked. ”More than anything, I want to kill that Demon Head that took my sisters and my leader from me! This is difficult... but I will not succumb to my need for revenge. My pride as an Awakener and a Valkyrie is stronger.”

Suddenly, Thor thrust her arm forward. The massive head of her warhammer stopped exactly one inch from Lancet’s nose.

Lancet remained perfectly still, his eyes locked onto hers, though he could feel the residual heat of the lightning on his face.

”Your temptation will not break me,” Thor promised, forcing finality into her voice.

Lancet smiled. ’Amazing!’ he thought. ’She is exactly as I created her! This is it. This is a true character.’

’Right now, I’m looking at a living, breathing being whose ideals mean absolutely everything to her. Her code surmounts basic needs like love, food, and rest, and astoundingly, it even surmounts her deepest, most agonizing desire for revenge.’

’I just had to test her to be sure,’ Lancet reveled internally. ’I pushed her buttons on purpose to know if what he wrote was really true. Would she be that steadfast in her morals, despite everything? Would her code truly surpass her ultimate motive?’

’Not to forget that I had to know if I even needed to go through the whole grueling ordeal of getting her to trust me, or if she could be easily bought.’

He smiled in acceptance. Guess she couldn’t be bought.

From a bird’s-eye view, the scene on the mountain plateau was breathtakingly poetic. Amidst a sprawling canvas of grey bedrock and sharp, snow-capped peaks, three figures formed a tense, emotional triangle.

The golden Knight, her hand resting anxiously on the pommel of her sheathed sword.

The Valkyrie of lightning, tears drying on her face as she pointed her legendary hammer in absolute defiance.

And the plain, unremarkable boy, sitting cross-legged on the stone beneath the weapon, smiling up at a piece of history he had personally woven into existence.

’Yes,’ Lancet concluded in his mind. ’I do have to prove myself. And you know what? It isn’t just about proving myself to Thor anyway. It’s about becoming better. It’s about becoming stronger.’

That was exactly what characters in a story were supposed to do to each other.

An MC shouldn’t be surrounded by a cast of blank slates that kowtowed to everything he did. He shouldn’t be surrounded by people who blindly admired him despite all of his glaring shortcomings, never pointing them out.

No, the people around him should challenge him. They should force him to confront his weaknesses, make him grow, and forge him into someone stronger in both mind and body.

So, Lancet wasn’t going to become a worthy leader just to appease Thor. He was going to become one for himself. He would become a leader worthy of holding the tethers of Astensia, Thor, and every other Heroine—or Villainess—he would ever create and summon into this world.

Lancet slowly poked his head from the side of the warhammer’s large head, and smiled widely at Thor’s defiant face.

”How about you watch Astensia and I train?”

Thor let out a confused gasp.