All My Summons Become Divine Girls

The golden light around Gazel surged again, washing over the blood on his armor until Didi could not tell where flesh ended anymore. When it settled, his body looked like a man carved from pure light, and the ground under him hissed from the heat rolling off his skin.

She stared at him with shaking hands, eyes wide and wet, then forgot to breathe when he took one slow step forward.

"Gazel...?"

The monster’s grin dropped for a second, then came back wider than before as it watched him stand after a wound that should have ended him.

’This one keeps getting better,’ it thought, lifting one hand. ’How many tricks did this guard hide?’

"You’re full of surprises," it said, pointing one finger at his face.

A purple orb formed above that fingertip, small at first, then tighter and denser until the air around it started to bend.

"I had fun," the monster said in a calm voice, "but I’m done playing for today."

Its finger twitched, and the orb shot out in a straight line that Didi could barely follow. The impact punched through the center of Gazel’s head, then burst behind him in a violent flash of purple light.

"GAZEL!"

Her scream tore through the clearing as she stumbled forward with both hands out while tears blurred her sight.

The monster clicked its tongue, turned to her, and moved before she could take a second step.

"That voice of yours is quite annoying." The back of its hand struck her neck in one clean hit, and she dropped where she stood, out cold before she touched the ground.

"Just lie there quietly and wait for me to be done with your knight," it said, looking back at Gazel, expecting him to fall this time, but he was still upright with steam pouring off his body in long golden trails.

The monster narrowed its eyes, then smiled again when it saw that steam rising from every new hole in his body.

"I see," it said, taking one slow step closer. "You’re burning your soul."

Gazel said nothing, only tightened his grip on his glowing sword while his arm trembled from shoulder to wrist.

"What a fool," the monster said, tilting its head. "Burning your soul will end with you not entering the cycle of reincarnation."

Three purple orbs spun into existence above its claws, then another, and another, each one humming with enough pressure to shake loose dirt at their feet.

"Desperation truly makes humans do the strangest things," it said, the orbs firing in a chain.

One tore through Gazel’s shoulder, another through his chest, and a third ripped open his side, yet he only rocked back one step before forcing himself upright again.

More blasts came and steam exploded out of each wound, but he kept moving toward it with ruined legs and a body that should have collapsed already.

’Keep moving,’ he told himself, dragging one foot forward through the shaking ground, ’do not stop moving no matter what.’

The monster stopped smiling, the whole situation not looking as enjoyable, "why won’t you just stay down?"

He answered by running straight at it.

He crashed into its torso with both arms, locked his grip behind its back, and dug his boots into the ground as deep cracks spread under his feet.

Before it could break free, he twisted his whole body and hurled it away from Didi.

The monster tore through the air and smashed through trees in a line of splintering cracks, while Gazel stayed standing between it and the unconscious princess.

The dust settled slowly in the distance. Gazel couldn’t even see if the monster had stopped moving, his vision swimming with dark spots while the burning in his soul ate into his mind.

It felt like his skin was melting off his bones, the golden light flickering as his life force drained out of him fast.

’If this is enough to keep her safe,’ he thought, forcing his ruined legs to stay locked, ’then I don’t care.’

A slow, heavy chuckle rolled out of the treeline. The monster stepped back into the clearing without a single scratch on its obsidian scales, casually brushing wood chips off its shoulder.

"You pushed yourself to the absolute limit for the sake of a human," it said, its grin returning. "I have to admit I am impressed. You earned the right to see a neat trick."

The monster raised one claw. The air around its body warped with sudden pressure, a dark crystal materializing from nothing and orbiting its wrist with a low hum.

Gazel stared at the single Shard, the cold reality hitting him immediately.

’It was fighting in base form this whole time?’ he thought, the golden light fading as the real gap in power crushed down on him.

The monster didn’t give him time to swing. It vanished, reappearing directly in front of him before he could even raise his sword, its claw driving cleanly through his chest one last time.

The impact severed his connection to the Brand instantly, the golden light shattering as the monster pulled its hand free.

He collapsed to his knees, his broken body finally refusing to move while his blood poured into the ground.

’I see... this was hopeless from the start,’ he thought, his vision going completely black as he realized there was never a way to stop it. ’Sorry... princess.’

He pitched forward, hitting the ground, and didn’t move again.

The monster stood over the body and flicked the blood off its claws, "I didn’t expect someone without a drop of the bloodline to force that skill out," it muttered, looking down at Gazel. "But in the end, it was just a poor imitation. If you had the actual blood backing that resonance, you might have given me a hard time."

It sighed and rolled its shoulders, turning toward the spot where the princess had fallen. "I would have loved to see how long you could actually burn your soul, but I have to put that off for now. The princess comes first."

It stopped, noticing the crushed grass was completely empty before a metallic clink broke the silence from above, making it snap its head up toward the canopy.

Hajin crouched on a thick branch, holding the unconscious princess under one arm while his other hand gripped the glowing golden chain, his eyes locked directly onto the monster.

He snapped his wrist, shooting the unwrapped chain across the gap to wrap around another tree deeper in the forest. He dropped off the branch and pulled the chain tight, using the momentum to swing them both away into the thick leaves.

The monster didn’t chase after them. It just stood in the ruined clearing, watching them disappear with a grin stretching across its face.

"He’s stronger than before," it said, its voice rumbling. "I was planning to kill him since he smelled so weak earlier but this turned out quite well. I suppose my pet boar was good nourishment."

It chuckled, the sound vibrating through the ground.

"Good," the monster whispered into the empty clearing, "continue to grow just like that. When you are perfectly ripe, I will rip that divine power right out of your chest and offer it directly to the King."