All My Summons Become Divine Girls

Hajin pulled his hand back from Sable’s back, feeling the golden mana settle into her pathways.

The heat was still radiating from his palm, and he could feel the way her internal flow had stabilized, the jagged edges of her shard alignment finally smoothing out under the pressure of his own energy.

She sat there for a second, her shoulders straight and her head held high even as the lingering warmth made her breath hitch once.

’It’s so stable,’ she thought, her fingers pressing against the floor beside her. ’It doesn’t feel like a foreign force at all. It feels like... like I’m finally whole.’

Unlike Elise, she didn’t break down or cry. Instead, she slowly stood up and brushed the dust off her combat skirt, her face still a little pink but her eyes full of that same stubborn pride.

"I’m fine," she said, looking away from Hajin as she adjusted the straps on her leather armor. "The mana feels... acceptable. I can definitely work with this."

He stood up as well, looking from her to Elise, who was already back on her feet and looking more confident than she had all day.

"Good," he said, his voice flat as he looked toward the massive, pulsing core in the center of the arena. "Now that the synchronization is done, we can actually start the plan."

Elise stepped forward, her hand moving to the hilt of her sword. "The guildmaster said we only need to leave a single scratch, but the density of that core is insane. Even with our control fixed, how are we supposed to actually break through its natural mana shield?"

"We aren’t going to break through it," he said, turning back to them. "We’re going to use it."

Sable’s brow pulled together in confusion while she reached for her own sword. "What does that even mean? You can’t just use a core’s shield against itself."

"You can if you hit it with the right frequency," he said, a faint, cold glint appearing in his eyes.

’I saw it when Allen first showed us the core,’ he thought, remembering the way the air had rippled around the pedestal.

’The shield isn’t a solid wall, it’s a high-speed vibration. If we hit three different points at the exact same time with the exact same mana frequency, the vibrations will cancel each other out for a split second.’

He gestured for them to follow him toward the center of the arena.

"We only have one shot at this," he said, walking closer to the pulsing core. "If we miss the timing even by a fraction of a second, the shield will just rebound and throw us back with double the force."

Elise swallowed hard, her grip tightening on her sword while her eyes fixed on the core. "And how are we supposed to hit the exact same frequency? We’ve only been synchronized for five minutes."

"That’s why I’m here," he said, stopping a few feet away from the core’s outer edge.

He raised his right hand, and for the first time since they had met, his golden ring finally manifested around his wrist.

Elise froze, her eyes widening so much that she nearly dropped her sword.

"A... a ring?" she whispered, her voice shaking while she stared at his wrist in pure disbelief. "What is that? Where are your shards?"

Sable took an involuntary step back, her hand moving to her mouth as her heart pounded hard in her chest.

’That’s impossible,’ she thought, her eyes fixed on the glowing circle. ’I’ve never even heard of a manifestation that wasn’t a shard. What kind of power is he actually using?’

Allen stood completely still on the sidelines, his gaze locked onto the golden ring.

’So the rumors were true,’ he thought, remembering the detailed report Yenna had submitted earlier that week. ’A manifestation entirely devoid of shards... fascinating.’

Gorren stared at the ring from the other side of the room, his grip tightening on his chipped axe. He looked from Hajin to the guildmaster, his face twisting with pure frustration.

"Are you just going to ignore that?" Gorren yelled, taking a step forward. "He doesn’t have any shards! That’s clearly not normal. You can’t tell me he isn’t using some kind of illegal artifact to cheat the test."

"I have been a mercenary for ten years," he continued, pointing his axe toward Hajin. "I know what real magic looks like. That is a trick, and you know it."

Allen finally turned his head to look at the mercenary, his expression entirely unreadable.

"Are you questioning my ability to detect an artifact?" He asked, his voice dropping into a low, dangerous tone. "Or are you simply looking for an excuse because an unregistered rookie is about to attempt something you failed to do?"

Gorren’s face turned a deep, ugly red. He opened his mouth to argue, but the sheer weight of the guildmaster’s gaze forced the words back down his throat.

"The exam rules do not mandate shard alignment," Allen said, turning his attention back to the core. "And the test is still ongoing. If you interrupt them again, I will have you permanently banned from all guild facilities, am I clear?"

Gorren swallowed hard, his fingers loosening around his weapon before he gave a stiff, humiliated nod and stepped back.

"I’m going to act as the conductor," Hajin said, completely ignoring the entire argument while the light from his ring began to pulse.

"I’ll feed the frequency through the connection I established in your bodies. All you have to do is let your mana follow my lead and strike when I say."

Sable looked at the core, then back at Hajin, her jaw tightening.

’He’s actually serious,’ she thought, feeling the faint, golden pulse inside her own chest reacting to the light on his wrist. ’He’s going to control the mana inside two other people while fighting his own battle. Just what kind of monster is he?’

"Line up," he commanded.

Elise and Sable moved without another word, taking their positions on either side of the massive crystal while raising their weapons.

Hajin stood directly in front of the core, his hand hovering over the smooth, vibrating surface. The golden ring on his wrist flared before he pushed his mana outward, forcing it right through the established connections in their bodies.

"Focus your energy into the edge of your blades," he said, feeling the immense resistance of the core’s natural shield pressing heavily against his palm. "Match my frequency. Three... two... one... strike!"

Three distinct flashes of mana converged on a single point, causing Elise’s rapier, Sable’s sword, and Hajin’s bare fist to hit the core at the exact same fraction of a second.

The air in the arena compressed with a sharp, deafening crack as the two opposing frequencies violently collided. Hajin expected the shield to falter, but the ten-shard core didn’t yield an inch.

Instead of canceling out, the core’s natural barrier immediately adapted to their synchronized frequency and inverted it.

A terrifying, crimson light flared from the point of impact. The mana in the room suddenly turned hostile, violently sucking the air right out of their lungs.

"Pull back!" He yelled, trying desperately to rip his hand away.

He couldn’t move an inch, and neither could the girls because the core had completely locked onto their mana signatures to trap their weapons against its unbreakable surface.

Juna let out a panicked snarl from the sidelines, her claws sliding out as she lunged forward to grab him.

"Stay back!" he ordered, his voice straining under the sudden crushing pressure. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

A monstrous pulse of lethal energy surged from the crystal, tearing back through their synchronized connection with enough force to obliterate steel.

The core wasn’t just rejecting their attack, it was rushing straight into their own pathways with the clear intent to completely detonate their internal cores.