I Only Summon Villainesses

The oppressive aura rolled off me and dominated the room. Both of them were about to once again move, but at that same moment, the atmosphere changed.

They froze under the oppression, and slowly, Brunhilde turned her head.

She was doing better than Kassie, but was just as strained.

"I see your Summoner inherited that malevolent aura..."

She shakily raised her chin at me.

While I walked forward indifferently, placed my hand in my pocket, and glanced at the two of them before speaking.

"I will have you both put a pause to this feud. You can always continue later. In fact, I have a very nice cathedral that automatically repairs itself, if you’re interested."

I flashed a wink at Brunhilde and quickly dove back into serious mode.

"But I can’t allow this to go on."

I stepped closer and focused on Kassie.

"Kassie. Why did you let White Feather go alone?"

She glared at me, straining to raise her head.

’Is it me, or does she look madder than usual...’

If I had to guess, I’d say I was correct. Kassie did look a little angrier than usual.

’Is it because I stopped her from fighting her master? Or is it because I’m using Emperor’s Presence on her?’

It was hard guessing what was going on inside the girl’s head, but at the same time, I did not cower because of it. Maybe because there was a fraction of me that was truly angry that Kassie had let White Feather go alone.

"Someone had to look after you."

Her voice crawled out with a threatening tone, sounding more like a death announcement than any reason.

I lowered my gaze for a moment, frowning.

"Still... I would have appreciated it more if you didn’t let her go alone."

She seethed.

"As we would have appreciated it more if you didn’t endanger your life?"

Silence suddenly enveloped the room.

Then Brunhilde laughed.

Her laugh was so sudden and wild that I watched her with confusion until she was done laughing. By that time, I had withdrawn the oppressive aura.

"You got a difficult one, kid. This one is worse than a reclusive caveman. She’s a fool when it comes to expression. And she will make herself seem reasonable. If you only see the warrior projection she wears, you’d never reach the pumpkin within her."

Kassie gritted her teeth with rage.

"Call me that one more time, and I will destroy you and your Summoner."

Brunhilde laughed.

"The last time you tried, you almost destroyed your own Summoner, causing yourself a great deal of pain. Wanna go again?"

Kassie raised her head with a short, condescending laugh.

"Master, you may be in this youthful skin, but your mind is more backwards than you can ever catch up with. You’re forgotten, no one knows of your existence, your era is long gone, and your styles are unrefined and underdeveloped. I really think you should go back to the Spirit World and tend to the rivers."

Brunhilde’s vein at her temple hardened, and she continued to stare at Kassie in absolute silence.

Until Ilse broke it.

"If we want to find the culprit of all of this, we need to move. Altharion will not stop here. He most likely is trying to rally the rest of his squad and come at us in full force. Before all of that happens, I need to know who is backing Harter and need to stabilize the North."

Kassie let her great sword vanish and then turned to Ilse with an impassive look.

"You want to save the North? You could have simply told the Divine Summoner then, and double-crossed him much later."

Ilse’s eyes widened in shock. She muttered to herself.

"I didn’t think about that..."

I glanced at her.

’Of course, you didn’t. Kassie is unique, and no one ever thinks of the things she thinks of...’

Brunhilde rolled her eyes and walked towards us. Although she had a more petite figure and was much lacking compared to Kassie, her glory resided in her elegance and face. She was like a frost princess, with her hair and eyelashes as white as snow.

"Are you going to move or stand there and talk about what they could have done?"

Kassie stood still for a moment, then she looked at me.

"Cade, can we not work together with these people?"

She sounded so adorable that I felt like I could break from just how she sounded. I wanted to leap, run around, and scream while tearing my clothes from how she sounded alone.

I didn’t know how Kassie did these things. But she just went and did them anyway.

But I swallowed all of that adrenaline and responded calmly, in the most rational manner possible.

"We have to work with them, Kassie. Right now, we can’t afford to be choosy. God forbid something happens to White Feather. And why did Maggie have to run all the way back to Recimiras?"

Kassie dusted dirt off her armor.

"She didn’t breathe enough to explain. Just like I did, she had also sensed your life was in great peril. If we had not used our willpower to break through your summoning barrier, you could have died."

She pierced me with a glare.

I sheepishly avoided her gaze and scratched my head.

"I thought I had it under control."

"You should have summoned me when he called upon his summon."

"Honestly, Kassie, I was about to. I just had no idea his summoning was going to cause such devastating effects. What in the world is that summon anyway? Just bringing it out releases a light bomb?"

Kassie walked closer.

"I don’t know."

She glanced over at Brunhilde, who was standing beside Ilse now.

"Divine Summons are rare, but they exist. And the unique thing about them is they don’t come from the Spirit World like we do. They are not necessarily dead like we are. But even when they die, they don’t come to the Spirit World. They stay there, whatever their realm is called. So little to nothing is known of their existence."

I focused on Brunhilde as we walked towards the doorway together.

"But you seem to know something about them. How so?"

She scoffed.

"Why wouldn’t I? When I was killed by one myself."