I Only Summon Villainesses

While the ship rested at the outer harbor like a damaged vessel awaiting repair, Kassie and I stood in the Nave. Magdalene lingered somewhere near the columns with her arms folded and a small frown on her face.

To be honest, was it really a frown, or was this simply who she was? Perhaps both. Either way, she was hardly a sight for sore eyes.

But that wasn’t what I could afford to focus on right now.

I stood before Kassie. She had changed out of her dress and was now wearing her black lustrous armor. Her helmet had yet to form, and her red eyes were sharp — bloody sharp, as though she beheld the face of someone who had taken the world from her.

“Goodness! Do you intend to carve out my bones? Didn’t you say this was a mock battle?”

Kassie’s gaze didn’t waver. Not even for a second.

“I happen to give every single thing my best regardless of its nature. It’d be unfair to you if I was to treat this like it didn’t matter.”

She paused for a moment, looking at me and shifting slightly from one leg to another, like she was testing the weight of her body on both.

“Besides, you’ve come this far in three months. It’ll be disrespectful to you if I do not take this seriously.”

I chuckled — the sound was brittle as glass, barely holding together.

“Yea… sure… I guess.”

’You’re just wicked. Eloquently convincing me that I should allow you to break my bones maybe once or twice to drive the lesson home.’

Either way, it wasn’t like I could say no — not that I wanted to. In fact, contrary to my evasive thoughts, I actually wanted to try what Kassie was suggesting.

A mock battle between her and me. She wasn’t going to use any weapon, but neither was she putting on weight bracelets. I wouldn’t be wearing any either. And we would face off.

Kassie had explained that this mock battle served two purposes for me. The first was giving her a front row seat to gauge my progress so far… more accurately.

The second was because watching her fight and fighting her were two very different things. Kassie had said she simply wanted to show me that difference.

So now, we stood about a hundred meters apart. She was at the center of the rows of pews, while I was positioned towards the stairs that led to the heavy entrance doors.

I knew how to swing a sword. I knew how to listen to the body, and I believed [Strategic Apex] had taken this special ability of mine quite personally — the more I practiced that listening, its proficiency was affected and the attribute leveled up.

So I figured this was something that had to do with the attribute. If so, I should be able to trust it well enough to bring the sound to my ears at just the right moment instead of constantly distracting myself while trying to listen.

Because my opponent here was Kassie. I couldn’t afford a divided mind. It wasn’t like my mind would actually be divided — I mean, it was for the same purpose. But I didn’t want to be waiting for the right moment to listen when I should be throwing her off guard.

Not to mention Kassie’s inhuman speed… it wouldn’t make much of a difference if I heard her coming but was still too slow to protect myself because I was busy listening.

’Yea… that makes sense.’

After that, I didn’t think there was any sort of preparation I wanted to do. I knew how to swing a sword, even though I didn’t have a combat mastery attribute like some of my classmates did. I had managed to come this far on my own, by training and paying attention to Kassie and Yuan’s instructions.

And to be honest, I was proud of myself.

’Not yet you fool…’

I locked in. My gaze narrowed towards Kassie, my dark eyes seeming to grow darker, and for a moment, I was sure I would’ve been intimidating in a dark, uncomfortable manner.

Kassie chuckled a little bit… then moved.

I didn’t rush into motion. Instead, I waited. She vanished from my view completely, and to be honest, it would be quite stupid of me to start whipping my head around searching for her from all corners.

That was the kind of decision that earned people a neck-twisting kick from their blind spot.

In that moment, my body tingled.

’It worked!’

I pivoted sharply, cloak blurring as I tore through the air. As I turned, I threw Frostfang up with both hands at its hilt. Kassie’s leg jammed the flat of the blade and sent me flying.

I grimaced against the pain immediately but it was manageable. I sailed through the air, landed on my feet, and skidded backwards across the white marble floor.

Kassie was standing with one leg extended outward — she hadn’t retracted the kick. She turned her head with a small smile on her face.

“Not bad.”

It might seem like just words… but I promise you, they weren’t. Those were everything.

’I survived!’

This was the first step… survival…

The second step…

My gaze hardened and I shot towards Kassie, my resolve almost audible in the steps that raced across the Nave.

Kassie stood still, waiting for me.

I lashed out my sword after covering half the distance. The Frostfang blade arced through cold wisps of air, white smoke tracing its path.

Kassie glanced up with no expression, no gesture — she looked at the sword with something close to boredom, if anything. Then she looked at my chest and drew her hand backward, twisting her palm.

’I knew you were going to do that!’

Right… [Strategic Apex]. Another attribute I had been paying attention to. And I figured I had been really underplaying it.

Just as Kassie’s hand flew forward, my sword already coming down, I shifted to the side. The blade’s arc went wide and wasted but my eyes traced Kassie’s hand and white flames ignited across her palm to her forearm.