Catfight

There was no time to mourn Oksun's retirement. The one thrown onto the battlefield was the 5-star summon Araxtasia.

In an instant the tide of battle reversed—but I was the only one who knew it.

"Any last words?"

"Hahaha! You think adding one more body is going to change anything?"

The giant eyeball trembled as it let out a nauseating laugh.

Yeah. From its perspective, what I was doing barely ranked as a final act of desperation.

But from this point on, the one who needed to thrash around in desperation wasn't me. It was that thing.

"Summoner. Bestow your command."

"Kill that oversized eyeball for me."

"As you will."

At my quietly delivered order, Araxtasia began to move.

Soft, measured steps. Every motion carried a refined elegance, a quiet dignity. Before I knew it she was standing directly in front of the boss monster, and she opened her mouth.

"You. You are truly hideous."

"Hmm… by human aesthetic standards, I suppose that may be so."

"And this body despises ugly things."

Araxtasia dragged a fingernail across her own wrist.

Droplets of blood welled up, hardened, and formed a blood-red spear of pure crimson. She ran her fingers once along the blade, then—

"Repent for having been born looking like that. And die."

—drove the spear straight into the giant eyeball.

So fast it was invisible to the naked eye.

"GYAAAAAAH!!"

"In the blink of an eye" didn't even begin to cover it. I had been watching the entire time, and I still couldn't track her movement.

"How dare you show Summoner such a repulsive face!"

"KRAAAH—w-wait a second!"

She forged a new spear from the blood at her wrist and drove it into the eyeball again. Tentacles she simply sidestepped or severed, never breaking the rhythm of her assault. For something so straightforward, the enemy couldn't even manage resistance—only screams.

A far cry from Oksun and me barely landing a single hit between us.

"That's it! Kill it dead!"

"As commanded!"

Not that I felt particularly inadequate about it. Summoners being weaker than their summons is just common sense, right? No point getting depressed over something like that.

All I had to do was crack open some popcorn and enjoy the show.

"GYAAAAAH!!! Please, stop…!!"

"Tsk. For something so worthless, you've got quite the set of lungs."

Barely a minute after Araxtasia's arrival, the boss monster looked like a pinecone and the fight was over.

Yeah… looking at it like this, it was pretty brutal. Seeing roughly forty blood-forged spears sticking out of the thing turned my stomach a little.

"W-what's going on?"

"Who took down that monster?"

"Hey, don't raise your head! The thing might still be toying with us!"

Fortunately, the civilians still didn't fully grasp the situation. Whatever method that eyeball monster had used, the simple act of lifting their heads terrified them.

"Summoner. What shall be done with this hideous creature?"

"Leave it restrained like that."

"Understood."

I didn't kill the boss monster outright. If I finished it carelessly and the whole subway car collapsed into a dungeon breach, we'd have a real problem on our hands. I also still needed to figure out what to do about the ordinary people caught up in this.

"Son, don't lift your head!"

"But the noise…"

"I said don't!!!"

No matter how I looked at it, something was wrong with the civilians. There didn't seem to be any actual victims of the monster, yet they were all trembling in fear with their faces pressed to the floor. Thousands of people doing this in unison was definitely a problem.

"Hey, Araxtasia."

"Yes, Summoner."

"Why is everyone acting like this?"

"It would appear they have fallen under a brainwashing enchantment."

"Brainwashing?"

Her words gave me pause. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Whipping around monster tentacles and using mental abilities? Then why hadn't I been brainwashed?

"Am I under it too?"

"You are not."

"Why only me…?"

"That, I do not know. However… there is no trace of brainwashing upon you. That much is certain."

For reasons I couldn't explain, the brainwashing hadn't taken hold on me. I didn't have any mental-type skills among my abilities… weird.

I shelved the question for later and decided to deal with the civilians' brainwashing first.

"Araxtasia, can you break the brainwashing on these people?"

"I can. However… there is a condition."

"A condition?"

"Well…"

Araxtasia suddenly flushed red and started squirming in place. Was there some awkward process involved in undoing the brainwashing?

This wasn't the time to be picky.

"Whatever the condition is, if you can do it, do it now."

"Y-you're certain?"

"Yes. Every second counts."

"Hah… very well."

Hearing that, Araxtasia nodded as if steeling herself. Then she bolted straight at me and—

"Anh!"

—sank her fangs into the side of my neck!

"Kh?! What the—!"

My whole body locked up at the sudden turn of events. Whether she noticed my reaction or not, Araxtasia made soft little sucking sounds as she drank my blood, focused on it with the intensity of a lover's kiss.

Just as a strange pleasure and a twisted sense of wrongness started to drown out the pain, she carefully withdrew her mouth.

"Ahem. Forgive the discourtesy."

"What the hell was that!?"

"For a vampire to display her true power, high-quality blood is required, and so…"

"…Fine. Just get on with it."

It was more than a little startling, but if it was for breaking the brainwashing, I let it slide. A little blood loss wasn't going to kill me. I was busy rationalizing it to myself with pure mental gymnastics when she strode into the middle of the crowd and shouted at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the top of her lungs.

"Awaken!!"

"Ugh, what was that sound…"

"Huh? Why was I lying face-down?"

People slowly started getting up. Judging by that, the effect was solid. Watching them come back to their senses, I naturally melted into the crowd myself.

It still wasn't time to reveal my identity. Everyone was too disoriented to notice anything—if I just played the part of another civilian swept up in the dungeon, nobody would be the wiser.

"Excuse me, young man. Did you see who was fighting that monster earlier?"

"No idea. I just woke up myself."

I gave a shameless answer to the middle-aged woman who'd just come to beside me, and scanned the surroundings. Good—everyone seemed to be back to normal.

"Keheheheh!! You think this is the end!!"

"Kyaaah! The eyeball is talking!!"

"S-stay calm! It doesn't look like it can move!"

"But the way it looks… uurk!"

Right when a hopeful happy ending was all that should have been left, the boss monster spoke up again. "You think this is the end"—what a tired line.

"Yeah, looks pretty finished to me?"

I whispered just loud enough for the thing to hear, using the chaos so no one else would catch it.

"You fool! You saw the mountain and missed the trees!"

Even in total defeat, the eyeball head was remarkably full of itself. It probably wasn't just raving, so I decided to hear it out.

"What was my victory condition, boy? Your death? Hardly!"

"Then what?"

"My victory was arriving at the terminal station, you brat!!"

The moment it roared, an announcement blared from the speakers.

Along with the blood-curdling voice from the speakers, the subway windows began to shatter. Beyond them, approaching from the distance, came a host of evil spirits—every last one of them a monster identical to this eyeball.

Each of them was probably packing strength on par with this one.

"Kwahahaha!! Kill me if you want—it's already too late! Now that we've arrived, at the terminal station—"

"What are you even talking about, you idiot."

"…What?"

Unexpected as the situation was, I wasn't particularly rattled.

"Summon—Eight-Tailed Fox, Yeonbi."

Because Yeonbi's cooldown had just finished.

"Hit them with something big."

"Hmph… Yeo knows not what this is about, yet so be it."

Sure, a new member had joined the summon club—but classics are classics for a reason, right?

The train was engulfed in violet flame.

"Ugh… that was so hard."

"It would seem a great many things transpired in Yeo's absence."

"I missed you, Lady Yeonbi!!"

After the clear, I used Yeonbi's arts to slip away unnoticed from among the people. After all that, there was no way my identity would come out.

I was just thinking the whole incident had been perfectly resolved when Yeonbi asked me a question.

"Hmph… and who, pray tell, is this wench?"

"Ah, this one's a summon from today—"

"This lady's name is Araxtasia."

Araxtasia's voice cut across mine. I turned in surprise to find her fixing Yeonbi with a frigid stare.

"And who are you, to dare address Summoner so casually?"

"Yeo is—"

"Ah, never mind. Yeo has no particular desire to know."

"…What did you just say?"

The atmosphere turned heavy all at once. Okay, why were they suddenly like this.

"How unexpected. To think there exists one who cannot even observe basic courtesy toward Summoner."

"Has it not occurred to you that Yeo and he are simply that close?"

"Oh? So you claim deep familiarity with Summoner?"

Before I knew it, a sharp war of words had broken out—the two of them snarling at each other like a dog and a cat. Something told me inserting myself ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠would only make it worse, so I was just standing there watching when Araxtasia pointed at the side of my neck.

"Close enough to offer him your body?"

The place where she'd bitten down and drunk my blood earlier. Even if all she'd done was take blood, from a third party's perspective… the mark looked like something, all right.

"No, that's not what—"

"Well. The lot of an unloved concubine is a bitter one, is it not."

"…What did you just say?"

"Why? Are you jealous?"

The instant those words left her mouth, a meter-tall jet of flame erupted from Yeonbi's hand.

Yeah… situation assessed.

I'm fucked.