Chapter 57: the final summons

Smith initiated another summoning call. This time, the portal didn’t answer immediately; it delayed for two or three seconds before appearing.

​When the portal finally opened, it radiated a soft purple hue—not a deep, oppressive shade, but bright, translucent, and clear. What was truly astonishing, however, was its pressure. It was vastly different from the others. It lacked the crushing, brute presence of Magenta or the sharp, cutting aura of Astra. Instead, it emitted a feeling of something that existed and didn’t exist at the same time—an aura that was undeniably present, yet completely intangible and fleeting, as if trying to grasp smoke with bare hands. It was a deeply unique and unsettling phenomenon.

​Visually, the portal was muted compared to previous summons, but its arrival was no less impactful to those earlier.

​When the figure stepped forward, Smith saw a woman with long purple hair styled similarly to Scarlet’s—tied neatly behind her head, allowing the vibrant locks to cascade down her back. She had striking violet eyes. Like all the noble women who came from that dimension, her features were impeccably cared for, retaining the radiant, smooth appearance of a young lady despite her status as a battle-hardened veteran.

​She wore silver and purple full-body armor styled similarly to Astra’s—ensuring complete protection while offering maximum flexibility along the joints. She carried only a single weapon, making her unique among the Queens Smith had summoned so far: a massive, all-metal spear. Its shaft was nearly two meters long and topped with a heavy, double-edged spearhead over twenty centimeters in length equipped with deep blood grooves. Judging by its solid metallic build, it was exceptionally heavy and capable of packing a devastating, armor-shattering punch.

​As she stepped out, the portal vanished quietly behind her. Just like the rest, she reflexively scanned the room, spotted Velvet and the other Queens standing dutifully behind Smith, and stepped forward. She was welcomed warmly by her peers before moving to take her place in the growing numbers behind him.

​Smith pulled up her data panel, eager to see what set her apart:

​Name: Valeria

Title: The Unbroken Lance (Legendary)

Rank: Novice

Battle Arts: Elastic Arts

​With practiced familiarity, he checked her title effect first:

​Title: The Unbroken Lance

Title Effect: Boosts attack and speed by 200%.

​Seeing that the basic title boost matched the standard baseline, he shifted his focus directly to her Battle Arts:

​First Skill: Elastic Armament (First Stage)

Effect: The user can freely manipulate their weapon to possess different elastic properties enabling it to bend without compromising the structural strength or the force of the strike.

​Second Skill: Elastic Body (First Stage)

Effect: The user can render her body elastic, making the joints significantly more flexible without compromising physical strength or power generation.

​At first, Smith was stunned, not fully grasping the practical combat application of these abilities. But then, a memory clicked sharply into place.

​He remembered when he had first arrived at the palace corridor and witnessed the chaotic battle against the elite guards. If he wasn’t mistaken, the spear-wielder who had broken through the enemy shield line back then must have been Valeria. At the time, he had seen a veteran soldier raise a massive tower shield to block a forward spear thrust, only for the heavy metal shaft to miraculously bend mid-air, curving right around the shield’s edge to strike the vulnerable gap behind it.

​Back then, he had assumed it was a optical illusion, a clever feint, or a trick of the dim,corridor lighting. Now, reading her skill descriptions, he finally realized the mind-bending truth. The ability allowed for truly marvelous, trajectory-defying maneuvers. While it currently manifested as bending her heavy weapon like whipped rubber, upper stages of this skill promised even greater, terrifying tactical potential.

​As for her second skill, human anatomy naturally limits movement capabilities due to joint mechanics and bone structures. With Elastic Body, those natural physiological limits were virtually less restricted, allowing Valeria to twist, bend, and extend to perform seemingly impossible martial maneuvers without losing any kinetic force. Smith silently looked forward to seeing her showcase these lethal techniques on a real battlefield.

​Not dwelling on it any longer, Smith turned and officially announced Valeria as another Legendary-titled Queen to the gathered elders. This time, the elders remained calm, showing no dramatic outward excitement. Their faces remained stoic; they had grown completely numb after experiencing so many world-shaking shocks in a single day. Smith understood that even the most incredible news loses its impact through sheer repetition, so he didn’t waste time and immediately initiated the next summoning call.

​This time, the portal manifested in a dark, burnished silver tone, heavily tinted with blood-red energy swirling along its outer edges. It gave off a distinctly predatory, menacing vibe—like a cat playfully tormenting a trapped mouse before the kill.

​Its pressure was heavy, thick, and suffocating. Though it lacked the raw, brute intimidation of Magenta’s aura, it possessed an insidious, oppressive force akin to fighting against crushing ocean currents: the harder you tried to push against it, the harder the atmospheric pressure rebounded against you. It didn’t choke you immediately, but it felt like being trapped inside a shrinking iron cage—the more you struggled to breathe or move, the tighter the cage became, until it inevitably crushed your bones without resistance.

​When the imposing figure emerged, she was nearly 1.9 meters tall and wore dark, full-plate heavy armor in a style similar to Brenda’s defensive full plate armor However, instead of polished black plating, her armor featured intricate, sinister red patterns that covered every surface like creeping vines. Unlike the simpler line patterns on the other Queens’ plate, this set was meticulously detailed, exuding an unmistakably dark, ominous presence. She wore a heavy paladin-style helm that concealed her entire head, giving her the imposing appearance of a corrupted knight.

​In her left hand, she carried a massive tower shield emblazoned with a sinister red cross and the snarling face of a demon carved into its center. In her right hand, she wielded a brutal flanged mace nearly a meter long, its heavy head studded with lethal ridges.

​Once she surveyed her surroundings and saw the others, she unequipped her armor. Beneath the sinister armor, she revealed a striking figure—essentially a taller, far more developed version of Brenda. She had sparkling silver eyes and long silver hair braided into two thick strands resting over her chest, with the rest falling freely down her back. she wore a grey tunic that emphasized her athletic, muscular build. The fullness of her chest was undeniably grand; while not quite as ridiculously voluptuous as Magenta, she wasn’t far behind.

​Smith caught himself mid-thought and quickly reigned in his wandering mind, clearing his throat awkwardly as he wondered why he kept noticing these aesthetic details—though he could hardly blame himself for having such breath-taking Queens.

​After welcoming her warmly to the group, Smith pulled up her data panel

​Name: Fiona

Title: The Aegis Bearer (Legendary)

Rank: Novice

Battle Arts: Force Arts

​He opened her title details first, eager to see her combat role:

​Title: The Aegis Bearer

Title Effect: Boosts Attack, Speed, or Defense by 200%. Up to two attributes can be boosted simultaneously at the same time.

​Smith was pleasantly surprised. This was identical to Brenda’s title , allowing her to instantly shift combat boosts on the fly depending on whether they were blocking a strike or counter-attacking. Having already seen how effective Brenda was in high-stakes combat, he knew firsthand how versatile and broken this mechanic truly was in practice.

​He then shifted his attention to her unique Battle Arts:

​First Skill: Force Absorption (Stage One)

Effect: When taking a direct attack or impact, the user can directly absorb the incoming kinetic force, mitigating damage to varying degrees. A portion of the mitigated damage is stored within her body as raw energy and can be accumulated multiple times up to a specific capacity limit.

​Second Skill: Force Application (Stage One)

Effect: When attacking or executing an action, the user can directly expend accumulated force energy to empower her different actions in combat.

​Analyzing her skills, Smith realized Fiona was a walking kinetic battery—a frontline tank who became progressively more dangerous the harder her enemies hit her.