Kai glanced to the side, eyebrows raised, the moment he noticed the tension building in Roman’s posture. He sat rigid and clearly uneasy, caught somewhere between embarrassment and growing intolerance over what had just happened to a member of their own team.
Max couldn’t believe what he was seeing. This was his summon, a genuinely powerful creature built with specialized durability for both defense and offense, capabilities widely praised across every major outlet covering the world’s summoner scene. And yet here it was, suffering a thoroughly humiliating defeat, not even at the hands of a rival summoner directly, but at the paws of a female warrior belonging to one of the people he despised most.
For a brief moment, his eyes snapped toward the source of it all, the summoner himself, Mark Moulow. Rage boiled hot and unrestrained in his chest. Whatever composure he’d claimed to have earlier crumbled apart in an instant.
It was just further proof of how quickly his self control unraveled whenever he tried victimizing someone he considered beneath him.
Spotting what looked like an easier, more vulnerable target, Max exploded forward in fury, lunging straight at Mark. A segmented, banded armored shell materialized instantly across his back like a second skin as his body compacted tightly into a rolling ball, accelerating hard across the remaining distance.
The moment he closed the gap, he unfurled sharply out of that compact form, snapping back into his human shape mid charge.
His eyes burned with fury at the thought of what had just been done to his summon, his most prized source of strength. He couldn’t hold back any longer. This was his chance to unload every ounce of brute force he had against his opponent, rules and combat restrictions be damned.
It still felt worth the risk.
He refused to let himself lose here, not even slightly.
Mark’s eyes widened in genuine shock as Max suddenly appeared right in front of him, already winding up an attack of his own. His clenched fists had warped into sharp, clawed phalanges as he swung hard toward Mark’s face.
Then Max’s eyes went wide instead.
He froze mid swing, an oppressive, almost suffocating weight suddenly pressing down over his entire body.
It radiated directly from the heavy, unwavering gaze of the Amazon standing nearby.
Cassandra looked even more striking, imposing, and overwhelming with the expression now settling across her face. Her sharp glare alone was enough to make Mark’s heart skip slightly, even knowing full well her focus wasn’t actually aimed at him.
Max barely had time to register what was happening.
Cassandra’s powerful axe kick came crashing down with devastating force.
BOOM!
Her heel slammed straight into the platform exactly where Max had been standing a split second earlier, splitting the surface apart and sending a visible shockwave rippling outward across the arena.
Max’s heart seemed to stall entirely the moment he understood just how close he’d come. Had he hesitated even a fraction of a second longer, that strike could easily have left him with one of the most grievous injuries of his life, possibly worse.
It felt almost unnatural, witnessing that kind of reaction from a summon.
Just how deep did this Amazon’s loyalty toward her summoner actually run, to protect him with that level of instant, decisive force?
It was as though she carried intelligence equal to, maybe even beyond, that of an ordinary human being. Plenty of intelligent summons existed throughout the world, sure, but most still leaned heavily on pure instinct, embedded combat programming, or sheer raw willpower alone.
This felt different.
The Amazon was making her own choices, in real time, without hesitation.
Several students in the stands clearly noticed it too.
"Wait, did she seriously just defend him without any kind of command at all?"
"She didn’t even pause to wait for an order!"
"That’s not normal summon behavior, not even close."
"She looks like she’s actually thinking it through herself!"
A ripple of murmurs spread quickly through the stands, adding an entirely new layer of fascination to the ongoing match.
Max remained briefly frozen, distracted by his own racing thoughts.
That single lapse proved more than enough.
Cassandra struck again.
This time, she unleashed a sharp, open palmed slap that connected with tremendous force, sending Max flying backward as though he’d been clipped by a speeding train.
His eyes rolled back as his body slammed hard against the platform floor with a sickening crack. Fresh, bright blood immediately began leaking from both his mouth and nose.
The medical team rushed onto the stage without delay, carrying him off toward the school’s medical wing for urgent treatment.
His summon had already been withdrawn automatically by the arena’s built in safety mechanism moments earlier, a system specifically designed to pull a summon back the instant its condition crossed into genuinely dangerous territory, preventing any further harm or potential destruction.
Max simply hadn’t moved fast enough to step in and protect his summon before things escalated that far.
Now, both summoner and summon had been fully removed from the battlefield.
The referee raised his whistle and blew it sharply, signaling the official end of the match before announcing the result with practiced, energetic authority.
"Mark Moulow, the new Amazon summoner, wins the battle!"
The stands erupted almost instantly. Murmurs, whispers, and sharp gasps rippled through the crowd before building into a steady wave of applause, marking the traditional close of the match.
Plenty of students kept talking it over long after the announcement.
"That Amazon genuinely didn’t wait around for any kind of order."
"Yeah, it reacted before Mark even had the chance to say a word."
"You think that means its intelligence is unusually high, then?"
"Whatever the actual reason is, Max clearly wasn’t ready for it in the slightest."
Somewhere near the front, a freshman girl leaned over toward her friend, eyes still wide. "I’ve watched summon battles online for years, and I’ve genuinely never seen one protect its summoner like that. Like, on instinct."
"Right? It’s kind of unsettling, honestly," her friend replied, chewing the inside of her cheek. "In a good way, I think. But still."
A smile touched Mark’s lips as he recalled his summon back into his soul space before descending from the southern side of the platform to rejoin the others waiting below.
He paused briefly when he spotted Roman already climbing up to meet him. The broad shouldered young man wore an expression twisted with barely contained anger.
"Don’t get too full of yourself just because you scraped by on a lucky accident. That kind of thing doesn’t happen twice, and you’ll fall right back down to where you actually belong soon enough. Try winning every match you’re in until it’s finally the two of us facing off, got it?" Roman said.
Mark simply shrugged, offering little else in response.
"Sure," he said flatly, not even bothering to glance back as he continued making his way down the platform stairs.
That short, dismissive reply somehow made everything worse.
Roman’s frustration began simmering internally. Mark’s casual, distracted indifference landed heavier than any shouted comeback ever could have. It was as though his words had simply failed to register at all.
Mark’s usual, almost extreme nonchalance only fanned the growing heat of Roman’s frustration further.
With that lingering irritation still burning, Roman finally climbed up onto the southern side of the arena, while his own opponent, a fellow sophomore girl with striking blue bangs and sharp red eyes, waited at the far northern end, hands resting confidently on her hips.
She smirked the moment she caught sight of Roman’s obviously sour expression, assuming his hostility was aimed squarely at her. She read his mood as clear proof she’d already established psychological dominance before the match had even properly begun.
"Well, well, look who it is, the one everyone likes calling the lackey. But today, you don’t have your precious master around to hide behind. This time, I’m finally going to take what’s rightfully..." Amelia never got the chance to finish her sentence before Roman cut her off sharply.
"Oh, just shut up already! You ever stop talking, or is running your mouth just part of the whole act? Let’s skip straight to the part where I kick your sorry ass," Roman snapped, veins visibly bulging along his temple and neck.
Amelia took his outburst as solid confirmation she’d successfully gotten under his skin, exactly the kind of leverage she intended to exploit fully.
What she didn’t actually understand, though, was the real source behind the intensity of his anger. Still, she welcomed it regardless, fully determined to teach him a hard lesson about his own lack of self control.
"Alright then, perfect. You wanted a quick ride, so let’s give you exactly that."
Her smirk widened slightly as she began running through the various satisfying ways she could take him apart.
A glowing rift tore open in the air beside her.
Something stepped forward from within it.
It was a large fox, its fur a striking blend of deep red streaked with hints of blue, eyes glowing a cunning, predatory red, thick hackles bristling along its upper back. Long, sharp canine teeth glinted clearly in its open snout, more than capable of tearing straight through solid steel armor. Its tail moved like a whip wreathed entirely in flame.
This was the Saber Firefox, a 4.6 Elite Tier summon.
The creature functioned equally well as a long range specialist and a close combat brawler, blending its fiery abilities seamlessly with razor sharp teeth and raw physical strength.
Then, to everyone’s visible surprise, the fox suddenly rose up onto its two digitigrade hind legs, forelimbs lifting into a distinctly humanlike stance.
It let out a low, rasping snarl, eyes locking directly onto Roman.
Roman simply studied the creature for a long, hardened moment before letting out a short, dismissive chuckle.
He shook his head slowly.
’I really don’t get why people act so proud over what basically amounts to a glorified weapon wearing a summon’s shape. I’ll show every last one of them exactly how this works. For Kai. For Max.’
A blazing portal tore open beside him, flaring bright along his left side. Something began emerging from within it.
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