SSS Awakening: Only My Summons Evolve

[Three Hours Ago]

’I had thought... I had finally gained a true friend.’

Han Feng sat on top his white eagle, the wind rushing through his green hair as they soared above the monster infested waters of the dungeon.

His eyes which were usually bright with a eccentricity, were narrowed into crescents of cold jade.

Up ahead, Lua led the way on her Red Eyed Bat, her silhouette looking like a dark blot against the perpetual sunset.

’But little did I know... he, too, was a spy sent by my brother.’

Han’s grip on the eagle’s feathers tightened, his knuckles straining.

To the outside world, Han was the enigmatic and relaxed scion of the Feng Clan. A bit mad, perhaps, but harmlessly so.

In reality, every breath Han took was a victory against a dozen people who wanted him dead.

His relationship with his elder brother wasn’t just a rivalry for the heir position. It was a long lasting battle for life.

There had been poisoned meals, accidental training rifts and more hired assassins than Han cared to count.

His brother’s favorite tactic, however, was the Friendship Trap, where he would be planting someone in Han’s life to gain his trust before sliding a knife between his ribs.

’Tch...where did I go wrong with my judgement.’

Han closed his eyes, trying to think where the situation derailed to this point.

When he had first encountered Verso outside the Emerald Auction House, he had seen an ordinary, somewhat desperate candidate.

He had felt a rare spark of hope as an idea entered his brain.

The idea being that if he befriended a commoner, someone with no ties to the clans or a political background, then he might have finally found somebody that he could call his friend.

But that hope had been eroded, brick by brick, over the last twenty four hours.

The first red flag had appeared the previous night. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

He himself saw how the boy had just auctioned off five high tier Mutated summons at the Emerald Auction House.

That was an impossible feat for an unaffiliated student, making Han more concerned about the identity of his new friend.

Han had immediately ran a quick background check through his clan sources, only to find out that Verso was an orphan who had lost his mother during childbirth, and his father during a dungeon break rescue operation.

But all together, it turned out that the boy had a completely clean record.

’He’s more than a little suspicious...’

In the world of high stakes espionage, a Clean Record was often a fabricated one.

Orphans were the perfect clay for spy agencies and great clans to exploit. They could be molded, trained in secret, and dropped into a target’s life with a tragic backstory that invited pity.

Han had initially decided to trust him, thinking his brother wouldn’t be so naive as to use such a classic trope.

Then came the exam.

Verso had not just used Mutated summons, he had used them completely wastefully.

He had summoned a completely maxed out Golem only to order it to self destruct which was a move so financially ruinous that it defied common sense.

No civilian would willingly destroy a Mutated Mutant tier summon unless they had an endless supply of them or a backer with deep pockets.

’Either he is rich, or he has a benefactor.’ Han had thought as they exited the first Siren cove.

And just then, the scum had dropped the final hammer.

"Actually, what if we do three groups?"

Han remembered the way his heart had gone cold at those words.

He had turned to look at Verso, straight into his deep blue eyes that seemed so earnest and felt a wave of crushing disappointment.

’He wants to separate us... He wants to isolate me.’

The strategy was textbook.

Break the heavy hitters into pairs, then go solo to coordinate with the actual assassination team.

By proposing a three way split, Verso was clearing the board of Moon and Xavier. While setting up Han and Lua for a lonely death on some rocky island.

Han had looked at Verso then with a dead look, a gaze stripped of all his usual theatricality.

He had wondered, for a fleeting second, if he should just put a mana bullet through the boy’s head right there on the beach and be done with it.

But Han Feng had not survived this long by being impulsive.

He had his own secret, an Elite tier summon he had spent two agonizing weeks securing just before the exam.

’I would love to see you fucking try.’ He had thought, his face turning to a mask of calm as he agreed to the split.

------

[Current]

The smell of blood in the cavern was intoxicatingly thick.

’So my suspicion was correct...’

Han sighed deeply as he stood over the mangled remains of the four men who had followed him into the cavern.

His newly acquired Elite summon, the Horned White Tiger, a beast of pure, lethal majesty, tore another chunk of flesh from the final mercenary’s shoulder.

Things had truly panned out just like how he had predicted.

Upon reaching the next Island after the pair finished hunting their fifth Siren, they got jumped by seven mercenaries who looking at their clothes were clearly pre planted into the dungeon.

In an attempt to break the group of mercenaries and give Lua a chance to run away Han separated and ran into the cavern.

’Tch, it’s such a shame...’ Han clicked his tongue in regret, he had truly thought for a moment that he had made a friend just to realize that he had been betrayed yet again.

Just then, a footstep echoed from the tunnel.

Han turned his head slowly.

He saw Verso standing there, his Black Scythe gripped tight, looking at the carnage with wide, surprised eyes.

To anyone else, it would look like a teammate coming to the rescue but to Han, it looked like the spy coming to see why his hired help had not finished the job.

The dead look returned on his face, more hollow than ever.

"So," Han said, his voice echoing with a chilling, quiet finality.

"You finally came to finish the job, huh?"