Astensia’s rhythm grew frantic, her hips slamming down harder, chasing that breaking point. Her powerful thighs trembled violently around Lancet’s waist as her inner walls fluttered and clenched wildly around his cock.

"I’m... I’m close too," Lancet announced with a groan. His hands tightened on her hips, fingers digging into her soft flesh as he thrust up again and again, fucking into her with plap, plap, plap echoing in the room.

"Astensia... fuck! I’m feeling it. I’m right there with you."

The pressure had been building unbearably in his core for minutes. Every tight, wet squeeze of her pussy, every wet slap of her ass against his thighs, every moan that fell from her lips pushed him closer to the edge.

His balls drew up tight, heavy with the need to release. His cock throbbed violently inside her, swelling even thicker as her velvet walls milked him relentlessly.

Astensia looked down at him, eyes glassy and desperate, blonde strands sticking to her sweat-dampened face.

The raw emotion in her gaze hit him harder than any physical sensation — trust, devotion, and something far deeper than simple lust. This wasn’t just sex. She was giving herself to him completely.

Her body, her pleasure, her oath, her heart.

"Together..." she whispered breathlessly, voice cracking. "Please... with me, Master."

That single word — "Master" — spoken with such vulnerable need, snapped the last thread of his control.

Lancet’s hips snapped up harder, driving his cock deep into her clenching heat again and again. Plap! Plap! Plap!!

The wet, obscene sounds of their joining was the anthem of the room, mingling with their broken moans and that beeping in the background.

"I’m unraveling!" Astensia cried out sharply, her entire body seizing up above him. Her pussy suddenly clamped down on him, rippling and spasming violently around his cock, contracting and retracting continuously.

A hot flood of her release gushed around him as she came, her walls milking him with desperate, greedy pulses.

That was all it took.

"Fuck!" Unable to hold back any longer,vLancet thrust up one final time, burying himself to the hilt inside her as he exploded.

Thick, powerful ropes of cum erupted from his cock, flooding her spasming depths in heavy spurts. He kept pulsing inside her, each throb matched by another tight squeeze from her pussy, drawing out every drop as they rode the intense waves together.

"Astensia...!" he moaned her name like a prayer, his body shuddering beneath her.

For several long seconds, the world narrowed down to nothing but the feeling of her tight, fluttering heat around him and the shared, overwhelming pleasure crashing through both of them. Their bodies trembled in unison, locked together in climax.

Finally, Astensia’s legendary strength gave out. With a soft, broken whimper, she collapsed forward onto his chest, her full breasts pressing warmly against his bandaged torso.

Her face buried itself in the crook of his neck, hot breath puffing against his skin in ragged pants. Lancet’s arms instinctively wrapped around her, holding her close as they both came down from the high, their bodies still joined.

Beep. Beep. Beep. The hospital bell was now the only sound in the silence. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Lancet could feel her heart hammering against his chest, perfectly in sync with his own. Her pussy continued to flutter gently around his softening cock, little aftershocks milking the last traces of his release.

He didn’t know what to do at first, but his hand moved on its own and he found himself stroking Astensia’s damp blonde hair with trembling fingers.

Astensia nuzzled closer, her arms tightening around him.

For a long moment, they simply lay there in the quiet aftermath, bodies tangled, breaths slowly steadying. The earlier tension — the guilt, the nervousness, the fear of what this would mean — was returning. But at the same time, they both felt this deep, warm sense of connection and peace.

"Do you think this was right?" Astensia asked him, her voice ticking his neck.

Lancet laid silent for a while, staring at the ceiling. He didn’t know what to think. For everything he knew that wasn’t from reading the novel, he had to depend on someone else to teach him. So far, Astensia had been that teacher.

For her to be asking him a question like that, it felt overwhelming, a challenge on its own.

But it was a challenge he had to overcome. Astensia was depending on him for the first time now, he couldn’t let her down. He had to say something.

"Did you ever read those stories were the knight and the princess fall in love and share a bed?" he asked.

Astensia licked her lips. "I wasn’t fond of stories," she said, "but I know of them."

Lancet waited before continuing. "Do you think they did anything wrong?"

There was silence for a while, but finally, after thinking it through, Astensia replied, "They couldn’t have, no."

"There’s your answer," Lancet said, drawing an anxious breath from her. "We’ve only flipped the roles I think. You’re the knight and I’m the prince."

Astensia let out a shaky, contented sigh, her fingers tracing lazy patterns on his chest. She raised her head at last and turned to look at him.

"The villainess can’t be trusted," she said.

"I know," Lancet replied.

"You’re back in the Academy," she continued, "your former issues might still persist."

"I know," he said again. "Luckily I have you to protect me."

Astensia gazed at him, then said. "I know."

He turned to her and they remained there for a while longer, united and prepared for whatever was in-store for them.

"Four days," Lancet murmured like it was four years. "I wonder if anything’s change."

××××××××

High up the floors of the Academy, Dean Ordenance sat behind his massive desk, trying to return to a tome he had been reading. But, his attention was held by the woman standing near his shelves.

She was a pale-skinned woman, likely in her forties. Her icy complexion were only highlighted with the gothic elegance of her black and blue gown and the raven-feathered mantle draped over her shoulders.

A halo made of black ice hung behind her silver-blue hair, and her glowing pale blue eyes were intensely fixed on the Dean. Their argument which had been going on for several minutes, continued.

"Your decision was rash," Danistasia said. Her voice was snappy and freezing, like a winter gale. "Sending three students to the Penitentiary after untethering them?"

Ordenance gave up on the tome and closed it with a heavy thud. "They committed murder, Danistasia."

"Then punish them in court," the Ice Witch snapped back, her dark, plum-black lips pressing thinly. "Not out in the open for the entire student body to gawk at."

Ordenance exhaled a harsh breath, leaning back in his chair. "I know what you are trying to do. This jungle mentality of yours—this ’survival of the fittest’ philosophy—is not what this Academy was designed for. We foster. We train. We are not all about vicious competitions."

Danistasia smiled, wickedly amused by that statement.

"Yet somehow, competition is all that matters," she stated smoothly, stepping away from the shelves. "The weekly quota. The monthly quota. The Inter-Class Group Competitions. The Yearly Tournament. It is all competition, Ordenance. And why?"

She walked slowly across the plush rug, the ice crystals of her gown clicking softly. "What sharpens iron better than iron? And diamonds... how can we find them if we do not try to cut them with other minerals? Only the ones who remain untouched, unbroken, come out as the diamonds. They are Humanity’s Vanguard. The protectors of the Kingdoms."

She stopped in front of his desk, leaning forward slightly, bringing the scent of frost and winter with her. "This is not a playground, Ordenance."

The Duke glared up at her. He understood her point perfectly, but he absolutely hated her motives. He knew that pushing the students to this extreme would surely implode one day.

"The students could use a softer touch," Ordenance countered with a subdued tone. "If we do not allow them to grow on their own, to find their own footing, then some true diamonds will get lost along the way. Misconstrued as nothing but brittle quartz."

Danistasia sighed dismissively, standing upright and waving a talon-like fingernail in the air.

"I do not wish to argue with you further on this," she said coolly. "Despite your bleeding heart, I like you far too much to bother reporting to the administration about possibly replacing you."

Ordenance narrowed his eyes. He took the threat exactly as it was intended.

Danistasia casually changed the subject, her glowing blue eyes inspecting a silver trinket on his desk. "I heard the mission in Hebthej was a success."

"Yes," Ordenance replied carefully. "An astounding success, even."

"But I also heard there were two Demon Heads present," Danistasia noted, glancing at him through her pale lashes. "And that one of them was killed by a first-year boy who was previously ranked a Dull Talent. Tell me, is he this hidden diamond you might have been referring to?"

Ordenance was silent for a moment, wondering where she was going with this. "He is special. He possesses the power to summon legendary figures from the past, using magical ladders."

"Astensia Valengard," Danistasia recited. "Thor Stormchild... and now, Spectra Hexarra."

She tilted her head knowingly at the Dean, a dark amusement flashing in her eyes. "Wasn’t Spectra Hexerra a Villainess. Why would this boy summon a Villainess?"

"I do not know," Ordenance admitted, his jaw tight. "But it seemed she assisted in clearing the Gloom Domain that almost killed the vanguard."

Danistasia’s wicked smile returned, sharper this time.

"A Gloom Domain," she mused, her voice dripping with chilling implication. "Created by a second Demon Head... that only he somehow knew about."

Ordenance was completely silent.

He had thought the exact same thing when Wolfgar gave his report. But, what was she planning?

Danistasia thought for a while. Then, humming playfully, she turned around, her midnight-blue cloak sweeping dramatically through the air.

"I will very much like," she declared, walking out of the Dean’s office with swaying hips, " to meet this Lancet Leogardt."

×××××

A/N: That brings an end to Volume ONE: Early Summoner Days. Thank you for following Lancet’s journey so far and hopefully you’re as excited for the next volume as I am. Please remember to support the novel anyway you can. First milestone has been accomplished!

Lancet’s Character Roster →