I Only Summon Villainesses

“I think I forgot to fuel her.”

Those words echoed in my mind hundreds of times in just one second before Nightyell went plummeting down.

For a moment, my mind went blank. Then a series of calculations rapidly fell in place, and I glanced at White Feather.

“I apologize in advance.”

I dispelled her to the depths of my soul before she could utter anything. And then, as the ship was falling, I pushed my legs against the wall of the ship and propelled myself towards Gilbert.

Moving against gravity wasn’t so easy, but I knew I was getting a hang of it. Perhaps, in time, I would be able to use the logic fully to walk on a wall.

I grabbed Gilbert from his seat, and the moment his weight was added, I felt my pull on antigravity slowing down; my spirit essence was growing thin quite quickly.

’Damnit! Why is he so heavy?!’

There were two options that I instantly thought of. The first one was simply to fly out of the ship with Gilbert and land with Kassie, instantly wreaking terrible damage amongst the airships at first arrival.

But that wouldn’t be effective enough. It wouldn’t deal enough instant damage like I wanted it to.

’Second option, I guess.’

I immediately released a ring of flames that consumed the entirety of Nightyell.

Gilbert’s eyes and mouth went wide. A second later, he let out a pained scream.

“No!! Nightyell!!!”

At the moment, I couldn’t afford a second thought.

’You will be missed.’

I glanced through the window and immediately vanished from the center of the burning ship, appearing beside it instead.

Then the knives of fire appeared beneath my legs, catapulting me higher into the sky.

I tightened my grip around Gilbert’s arm and with a great pull on my ferocious might, flung him into the sky, purging myself of that additional weight for a moment. Then I lunged downwards and crashed both of my legs onto the nose of the ship, wishing it a final goodbye.

The nose of the metal carved in with instantaneous speed and white molten light that blazed into flames.

The flames connected with the rest of the body and multiplied, burning savagely as it plummeted at a neck-snapping speed.

Nightyell clashed with the formation first and immediately, a choir of ruthless, incinerating explosions was born. It was a relentless chain that devastated the entire scene, resounding against both the sky and the sea and forming an even more destructive chain than before.

It was like for a moment, the world knew nothing but the sound of flames… and those flames were voices of unhinged immolation.

As Gilbert fell, screaming, I caught him by the hand and held him in the air.

He gasped and glanced down at the sea of explosions with a pale face… for a moment he was speechless of the disaster.

Then his voice trembled with pain.

“M-M-My ship… Nightyell…”

“I’m sorry…”

As I said the sincere words to him, Kassie was already materializing in the air.

She manifested, folding her hands with an impassive expression. For a moment, she was weightless, standing in the air like a goddess. Then she descended.

Her helmet appeared and covered her first then her sword appeared barely a moment before she landed. As her feet connected with what could presumably be the ground… another cacophony of explosions rolled forth.

Without wasting any time, she began unleashing havoc amidst the airships, her greatsword cleaving through their hulls with burning ease.

Gilbert stared down and gulped. Then he glanced up at me.

“Wh-what are we gonna do?”

I was silent for a moment, thinking.

But the answer didn’t take time to form. One advantage of having Strategic Apex, especially with the recent upgrades, was how quickly my mind came up with a solution.

’Refreshing…’

I grinned with delight, staring down.

Gilbert waited, looking at me with a mixture of fear suppressed scorn.

“What else are we going to do? We will get you another ship… a much bigger one this time.”

I glanced down at him.

“You love stealing things, don’t you?”

Gilbert gave me a defensive frown.

“I mean… yeah, sure, but don’t insult me. It’s scavenging, not stealing. And Nightyell… you wouldn’t understand. I didn’t just steal.. scavenge her parts, she was born. She meant more than any other ship ever could—”

“Even one that large?”

Gilbert paused and looked at me, then he followed the direction of my gaze, slowly looking toward the sea.

“It’s an air vessel, isn’t it? It looks like one with all those fins.”

Gilbert’s gaze still lingered on the ship, he blinked a few times and drew a quiet breath before turning back to me.

“Respectfully, Cade, I know you’re strong, but are you mad too? No because you must be mad to think of stealing a Prefecture airship this large!”

I raised my brows and smiled a bit dementedly.

“Oh, you’re just getting to discover? Allegedly, I was mad before I was ever strong. I’ve been mad for most of my life. Now, can you ride that new Nightyell?”

For a moment, his eyes were dull, he didn’t say anything. Then a sharp light ignited in his eyes, followed by a shameless grin.

“What do you mean? Motherling has been waiting for me to ride her since forever. With the presence of a hero like you, the prophecy of our great reunion shall finally be fulfilled.”

He glanced down with something like a melancholic, holy delight.

“My long-lost partner, embrace me.”

I shook my head and wished the pitiful Nightyell the best. She probably will never be remembered… not by him at least.

“Alright then… let’s do this!”

I plunged down with incredible speed, Gilbert’s clothes flapping furiously in the wind. As I made a landing on the surface of the ship, a shockwave of heated wind that flew outward and slammed against the fins, tearing them at their root before they could detach from the ship.

Each one tumbled and exploded against the body of the ship.

Gilbert hurriedly stood and shouted:

“Careful! Don’t break my baby! If you break her before we get her, how are we gonna ride her? It costs a ton of money to fix this big girl, you know!”

I ignored him and instead waited for the smokescreen on the ground to clear. As it did, an amused smile appeared on my face.

Gilbert also saw it and instantly his eyes radiated with a deep avarice.

“Cade, we must get Mothering at all cost.”

“Naturally…”

A ship this formidable would definitely be of a great advantage to us. I glanced around, studying the smooth blue surface of the ship.

A few hundred meters away from where we stood, a round floor door opened. Men in deep blue heavy armor and flowing black cloaks climbed out of the ship, holding with both hands what looked like futuristic laser guns.

“Oh shit, that’s bad — the Aerial Prefecture special corps! They’re giving us their best from the beginning!”

I shrugged and smiled.

“I guess I should be flattered.”

As Frostfang appeared in my grasp, I glanced back at Gilbert.

“Stay close behind me. I’ll tear the way forward.”

Just as I intended to move, White Feather spoke to me through the link, making me pause.

’Lord Cade, please, grant me the opportunity to also fight. I am not that same Matriarch that needs to be protected.’

’White Feather, I’m doing this for the sake of your reputation. The more you appear here, the more dangerous it is for the face of your business, isn’t it?’

The guns started blazing towards us in a brutal fusillade of bullets. My sword flashed forward in a myriad of blurring blade patterns, battering the bullets off course.

For a moment, I was distracted, but I managed to regain my focus.

’Lord Cade, you’re my summoner. My reputation or not, I should be on the frontline, in front of you, protecting you, not being protected by you. Beside… I’m quite unstable right now. I might tear down your Sanctum in a fit of anger. So you make your decision, which you’d rather have me tear down, your Sanctum or those soldiers.”

I gulped. She sounded so cold.

’Please, not my Sanctum…’

Although I doubted there would be any damage.

I hesitated for a moment, but eventually gave in and summoned White Feather to the battlefield.

Right in front of me.