Heroine Creation: All My Summons Are Custom Made

Ordenance turned toward her.

She finally took her eyes from Lancet and looked at him. ”He is a true asset to this world. I no longer question that. But I fear he has schemes of his own.”

”Schemes?” Ordenance asked. ”Based on what?”

”For one, he only summons women.”

Ordenance’s brows rose.

Danistasia continued before he could speak. ”Not merely women. Female Legends. And not those whose stories ended naturally, after long lives and graceful deaths. He summons those who died with unfinished business. Betrayed heroines. Fallen rulers. Warriors whose lives ended before their purpose did.”

Ordenance glanced toward the arena entrance where Lancet had disappeared.

”And since they’re humans like you and I, they do not behave like ordinary Summons,” Danistasia said. ”They speak with their own desires. They retain loyalties, grudges, ambitions and attachments. He does not strip those things away and force them beneath his will. He encourages them. He gives them room to pursue what they still want.”

”He treats them like people,” Ordenance said.

”Yes.”

The coldness of her answer made him look back at her.

Danistasia folded her hands. ”That may be admirable in a young man. But it is also dangerous in a Summoner capable of returning history’s most powerful figures to the present.”

Ordenance said nothing.

”He befriends them instead of leashing them,” she continued. ”He cares for them instead of controlling them. That means he is not simply summoning weapons. He is bringing powerful people back into this world with their old beliefs intact.”

Her gaze hardened.

”If the heroes of the past are returning to the present, their only purpose should be to protect the present. They should not be allowed to resume the goals, wars or unfinished desires of the past.”

Ordenance studied her face. ”You think they may try to reshape the world.”

”I think some of them already wanted to reshape it before they died.”

Below them, the speaker continued praising Lancet’s victory while the Summoner students celebrated their hundred points.

Danistasia looked down at the arena once more. ”Lancet Leogardt is more interested in earning their love than restraining their power. That is the danger he presents.”

Ordenance sat with the thought.

It was cold. Harsh, even. But no matter how hard he tried, he could not find the argument against it.

For the first time, he had no rebuttal against the Headmistress’s cold philosophy.

The competition moved on.

Class Group-C took the platform next, and whatever excitement Lancet had carried from his victory began to sour as he watched their matches.

Specialist-C dominated all three encounters and finished with three hundred points. Elementalist-C followed with two hundred. Enchanter-C scraped together one hundred.

Summoner-C earned nothing.

Not one win.

Lancet sat with Kasto and Anita during the final defeat and watched a Summoner-C representative drop his weapon before his opponent had even closed the distance properly.

He stared at the unconscious student.

”What the hell is wrong with that year?”

Kasto gave him a sideways look. ”You say that every time Class Group-C competes.”

”Because they keep proving me right.”

The scoreboard changed overhead.

Specialist-C: 300

Elementalist-C: 200

Enchanter-C: 100

Summoner-C: 0

Lancet leaned back with disgust. ”They are the worst year in this entire Academy.”

Anita laughed. ”All of them?”

”The Summoners, definitely. They drag their entire Class Group down no matter what event it is. Combat, strategy, even the Coin Token game, anything that requires standing upright for more than five minutes.”

”You’re a Summoner too,” Kasto reminded him, after laughing his ass out.

”That’s why I’m offended.”

Class Group-B followed.

Their matches were closer and far less embarrassing. Elementalist-B and Specialist-B each finished with two hundred points, while Summoner-B and Enchanter-B both managed one hundred.

Lancet watched the final scoreboard settle, then stretched his tired shoulders as the day’s tension finally began to leave the platform.

The speaker returned for the closing announcement.

”Students, faculty and honored guests, that concludes today’s events!”

The crowd applauded, already beginning to rise.

”But do not think the seventh challenge is over! Tomorrow, our strongest years take the platform. Class Group-A and Class Group-S will compete, and if today was any indication, you will not want to miss a single match!”

That earned another cheer.

”Return tomorrow prepared. Bring your banners, bring your voices and, for the sake of our maintenance teams, try not to break anything on your way out!”

The floating scoreboards dimmed. The drone cameras folded their brass wings and rose toward the upper docks while the barriers around the arena dissolved into thin blue light.

Students flooded the exits.

Kasto and Anita didn’t want to let Lancet forget what he had done today. They kept singing in his ear that he actually beat Renan Falconhart. He actually did it!

Anita stepped in front of Lancet and walked backward through the crowd so she could keep looking at him. ”You understand this changes everything, right?”

Lancet raised an eyebrow. ”Everything?”

”You were already famous for summoning powerful women. Now you can fight too.”

Kasto tightened his arm around Lancet’s neck. ”You’ve become unbearable.”

”I was unbearable before.”

”That’s true,” Anita said.

Lancet pushed Kasto off him and adjusted the Guillotine at his side. ”You two are acting like I defeated a Sword Saint.”

”You defeated Renan,” Kasto said. ”For this Academy, that is close enough.”

They continued through the outer corridors with students calling Lancet’s name from the stairs and bridges above. Some congratulated him. Others simply stared at the torn uniform and sword at his side as though expecting some hidden part of the duel to reveal itself.

By the time they reached the split leading toward the dormitories, the crowd had thinned.

Kasto and Anita took the path toward the Bronze Dorms, still arguing over which part of the duel had been best.

”The sword recall,” Kasto said. ”That was obviously the best part.”

”No,” Anita replied. ”The moment he put the blade to Renan’s throat.”

”That only happened because of the recall.”

”That is not how best moments work.”

Lancet slowed at the next junction. ”I’m heading back to my dorm.”

Kasto pointed at him. ”Do not disappear for another five days.”

”I’ll try to keep it to four.”

Anita waved. ”We’re coming to bother you tomorrow.”

Lancet made a face. ”I’m sure of it.”

They left together, their voices carrying down the hall until the stone walls swallowed them.

Lancet turned toward the quieter paths of the premises and continued alone. The exhaustion he had ignored during the duel had settled properly now. His shoulders ached, his hands felt stiff, and each step reminded him that Kestrel’s training had not magically made his body immune to punishment.

He had nearly reached the next corner when he heard something.

A broken breath. Like a hiccup.

Lancet stopped.

The sound came from the narrow space beside the wall where the corridor turned toward the old preparation rooms. Someone was trying to cry quietly and was failing.

He followed it around the corner.

There he found Frieda Castleloft sitting on the floor with her back against the wall. Her knees pulled to her chest and face buried between her arms.

Her red hair had fallen loose around her shoulders, and each breath shook through her as she tried to keep the sound inside.

Lancet stood at the edge of the passage and looked at her.

She had not noticed him yet.