The Battle Queen They Blindly Kicked Out

Chapter 1 Betrayed

"Joanna, what are you making a fuss about?"
The tall man in front of her frowned, impatience written all over his sharp features.
His eyes drifted away, and a trace of guilt flashed across his face, though it was hard to notice.
He lowered his voice and said, "You just need to stay with Kayden for one month. That’s all. He’ll give us a Silver-tier gear in return. We need it for the Crucible. Try to see the bigger picture."
The Crucible. In the interstellar world, everyone had to go through it before turning eighteen. It decided which academy they'd end up in, kind of like how high school seniors on Earth apply to college.
And he was asking her to trade herself for it.
Joanna Lane almost laughed. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.
What kind of person could say something so shameless?
Oh, so I already ruined my image for their tiny benefits, and now he wants me to be generous too.
Do they really think I'm a silly pushover?
And Crucible is important to them, but it's just as important to me!
That was because Joanna wasn't originally from this world. She came from the distant Varuna Galaxy and carried a fully mature soul.
Joanna was reborn into the interstellar age. To expand quickly through space, humanity forced everyone to take combat classes and needed huge population growth. Clones could not bind their souls to the Space Alliance system, so the Alliance paid subsidies to encourage women to give birth, and being single was illegal.
If Joanna failed the Crucible, with her talent, she would likely be treated as a breeding tool by powerful figures.
Interstellar humans lived very long lives. Joanna could be forced to give birth until she was 120 years old and had as many as 100 children.
Joanna herself was her mother's 98th child.
For someone born in the 21st century who believed firmly in staying single and child-free, this was the cruelest curse imaginable.
So, she became an overachiever.In Grade 10, Joanna awakened as a Summoner and unlocked an S-rank talent. For every monster she killed, she gained 0.01 affinity points.
She was thrilled and believed she would become a powerful Summoner, since affinity points also affected how well contract beasts bonded with their masters.
But she soon learned that being a Summoner cost an insane amount of money. Even the weakest summoning circle for a contract beast cost at least 100,000 Starcoins.
Joanna took out student loans to summon a contract beast, but she failed.
She failed several more times after that, and her debt only kept growing.
With no other choice, she worked desperately at part-time jobs.
At the same time, for the sake of the Crucible, she had to train as a Summoner without a beast. She learned combat skills, defense skills, and healing skills to make up for her weakness and avoid dragging the team down.
She never expected that just before the Crucible, team leader Lucas Harper would ask her to sacrifice herself to a rich kid named Kayden Wright, all to trade for a Silver-tier piece of gear.
Her gaze shifted to the rest of the team.
There was Cedric Hex, the Pyro mage, Bruce Morris, the shadow assassin, and Neil Sullivan, a pastor.
"Do you all think the same way?"
Joanna's eyes were like sharp blades, forcing them to look away.
Cedric was the first to break. He sighed and said, "Joanna, you should understand us too. You're a Summoner who can't summon a contract beast. For all these years, being in our top team has already given you huge benefits.
"The Crucible is the most important selection for us. We don't want to miss this chance, so we can only ask you to leave. We've already chosen an S-rank swordsman, Rhoda Wenric, as our teammate. With her, we're sure to get into a top college.
"And we didn't abandon you either. We transferred you to Kayden's team. He said you'd handle logistics there. You'd just take care of food, clothing, and daily needs. Isn't that what you're good at? Why can't you do it now?"
"You believe whatever he says?" Joanna shot back. "And besides, I'm a combat class. Why should I go do logistics?"
Being logistics staff also meant having children.What's more, Kayden was a complete jerk and had always had bad intentions toward Joanna. If she were transferred to his team, it was obvious she would only be taken advantage of.
"So, you have to respect yourself. You must not let Kayden touch you, or I won't be able to keep liking you," Neil said gently, but his words were more terrifying than a demon's.
Joanna found it ridiculous.
"Like me? But you're pushing the girl you like into someone else's arms?"
Joanna's heart ached.
She would rather lose this so-called "like", because what she wanted was respect.
Three years.
Three years of effort, three years of giving her all.
She was sold out by these ungrateful people.
Three years like that, and with anyone with even a shred of decency, it wouldn't have ended this way.
Now there was only one person left.
Joanna looked at Bruce.
"Bruce, were you in on this too?"
Among the four of them, Bruce had always had the weakest presence, yet he was the one Joanna took the most care of.
This time, he didn't stay silent.
"Kayden is offering a Silver-tier dagger. That's extremely important to me!"
Haha.
So that's what this is about!
Joanna felt like crying.
"You're all heartless.
"Lucas, three years ago, when we first entered a dungeon, you were the frontliner but couldn't hold back the monsters at all. You were as green as a rookie.
"It was me. I ranked first in combat practice and weapon skills, yet I took on the defense role and held the line with you. I saved you countless times!
"Cedric, you abandoned a teammate right before the exam, kicked me out, already found a replacement, and still talk like you're completely justified.
"Yes, I'm just a Summoner, but in your eyes, am I nothing more than logistics?
"I made all the dungeon strategies. In battle, I always filled in gaps. All these years, you couldn't control your aggro and kept attacking blindly. How many times did I block monster attacks for you?
"Neil, back in the Zombie Hospital dungeon, you were seconds away from having your throat torn out. I pushed you away and got my arm bitten off to save your life.
"Bruce, during the Bloody Campus dungeon, you did something wrong and triggered a beast wave. If I hadn't lured the zombies away alone, our entire team would have been wiped out.
"In these three years, I never made a mistake and saved you countless times, yet now you sell me out and want to kick me away like trash?
"Dream on!"
"That's enough!" Lucas shouted, then looked down at Joanna, who was small in size but overwhelming in presence.
"I'm the team captain. I have the right to start a vote and kick you out. As long as all other members agree, that's enough!
"Joanna, you didn't make mistakes, but your mistake is that you don't have a summoned beast. You're not strong enough. Our team needs stronger people. You were destined to be abandoned. Don't rely on the little affection we had for you and act willful.
"What's the point of crying and regretting now?
"If you had agreed earlier, things wouldn't have turned out this way."
Joanna's face flushed red with anger.
"I treated you as teammates, but all you wanted was to sleep with me?
"Regret? Then let's see who regrets it in the end!"
Joanna turned and walked away.
As she left, she heard the voice of the system implanted in her soul by the Space Alliance.
"Your team captain, Lucas, has initiated a vote to remove you from Team Dawnbreaker.""Members Cedric, Bruce, and Neil have agreed."
"You have been expelled from the team."

Chapter 2 One Million And Two Hundred Twenty Thousand   

Tears slid down Joanna's cheeks, but she wiped them away hard.
Crying was the most useless thing she could do.
Joanna had to pull herself together.
She first checked the information on her account. She still owed 30,000 Starcoins in student loans, so there was no way she could borrow more money through normal channels.
There was only one month left before the Crucible.
She also had to move out of the villa that Trinity High had prepared for Lucas and the others and return to the regular dorms.
Luckily, her teacher seemed to have known about this already. After all, changing team members required approval from the homeroom teacher.
"Joanna, the school also faces college placement pressure. Lucas changing teammates is also taking responsibility for their future. Don't be too sad. Over the past few years, they have brought you through many dungeons and helped you gain a lot of Attribute Points. Reaching Level 9 is already very good," homeroom teacher Drake Schneider said earnestly.
Joanna stayed silent.
"So, they told you that they were the ones who carried me through the dungeons?"
Joanna stressed her words, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
It was clearly she who made the strategies, handled logistics, bought all kinds of potions, and fully used her abilities. Sometimes she even calculated skill timing and counted steps to avoid monsters' attack patterns.
Yet in their eyes, it was them carrying her.
"Then what else could it be? They all have S-rank talents and strong classes. You still don't have a summoned beast, so of course they carried you. You should try to understand others and think more about how good they were to you," Drake replied.
Joanna's nails dug into her palms, the frustration almost choking her.
She didn't bother correcting Drake.
"Mr. Schneider, I want to form a new team. Please approve it."
"Joanna, have you thought about switching to a logistics class? If you apply now, no one will join your team. You also can't clear dungeon records alone.""No, I can do it! Please approve it as soon as possible!"
Drake sighed helplessly but finally agreed.
"Then what is your new team's name?"
Joanna clenched her teeth.
"Shattered Dawn."
Drake could tell Joanna still hated Lucas, but that didn't matter anymore.
A person's future was decided the moment they awakened.
Still, he approved the request and transferred Joanna's dorm to an empty room on campus, Building 14, Floor 4, Room 4.
Because the location was bad, no one lived there, so Joanna could have a single room.
Joanna packed her things at top speed.
She had lived here for three years, yet her luggage was pitifully little. That was not only because she was deeply in debt, but also because the team subsidies from the school had all been spent on her four teammates.
After leaving the team, she actually felt lighter.
Ding!
A special alert popped up on her communicator.
She opened it and immediately sat up straight.
It was from a powerful Summoner she followed, also a professor at Alliance Academy. This expert was deeply knowledgeable about summoning circles and had just released a new research project.
"The latest summoning circle researched by the Space Alliance, the Bloodcall Circle, can forcibly summon powerful beings from other realms and bind them. The circle consumes affinity points to attract more contracted companions, with a higher chance of humanoid beings. However, note that this is an equal contract, binding on both sides. It is harder to cultivate and extremely dangerous..."
Joanna automatically ignored the part about danger.
To her, having no summoned beast and failing the Crucible was far more dangerous.But when she saw the price of the circle, she was still shocked.
"Required materials: 1.2 million Starcoins."
"This is my last chance!"
Joanna gritted her teeth and decided to use some unconventional methods.
She was going to take out loans.
She immediately started searching for loan companies, and there were plenty of them online.
She registered her information. Some companies also required photos. One by one, she signed up with 26 loan companies and borrowed a total of 520,000 Starcoins.
Soon, her communicator lit up with a new message.
"Joanna, are you in urgent need of money? We saw the photos from your registration. We can raise your credit limit, but we need one special photo."
"What?" Joanna asked.
"Nudes."
Joanna cursed silently. Get lost!
That was her absolute bottom line.
"I won't take that kind of photo. But you know I'm good-looking, my talent is S-rank, and I have the ability to repay. How about raising my limit anyway?"
When they heard about her S-rank talent, their tone became much more enthusiastic. After some bargaining, they raised her limit to 100,000 Starcoins.
That gave Joanna an idea. She contacted six more companies, and each one also offered a 100,000 limit.
With 1.22 million Starcoins in hand, she immediately opened her class panel, tapped into the built-in marketplace, and started buying materials.
She purchased large amounts of Bloodcall Circle materials, and the Starcoins in her account vanished.
The materials for the circle were finally complete.
While setting up the circle, she cut her palm and let her blood flow into it. The circle activated at once.A system voice rang out.
"Bloodcall Circle activated. Do you wish to consume your affinity points and summon a contract beast compatible with you?"
"Yes!"
"Please enter the amount of affinity points to be consumed."
Without hesitation, Joanna entered the maximum.
It was exactly 100 points.
Joanna currently had 100 affinity points. Over the past three years, she had hunted 10,000 monsters.
That wasn't actually much. In fact, it was a bit low.
Only the player who landed the final blow received 20% of the monster's experience and the loot, which went directly into their inventory.
She rarely had the right to deal with the finishing blow.
To raise her affinity points, she had gone to low-level dungeons to hunt monsters alone. But after reaching 100 points, she stopped.
That was because high affinity points came with negative effects. She noticed her teammates' gazes growing more filled with desire, and she even attracted some obsessive pursuers.
Besides, it wasn't a stat that affected direct combat.
She didn't have a summoned beast anyway, so she didn't dare raise it further. Now she planned to spend it all at once.
She hoped to summon a powerful contract beast.
After the circle released a deep crimson light, it pierced through countless parallel universes and finally stopped on a barren planet.
This parallel universe was located on Exile Star in the Medusa Galaxy.
This was where sentinels who had lost their guides, lost their sanity, and mutated into twisted monsters were cast away.
The planet was filled with deformed creatures. Their eyes were full of chaos, sometimes clear, sometimes mad. Their unstable genes made these twisted sentinels terrifyingly destructive.
Like sharks smelling blood, they went crazy and rushed toward the circle, trying to enter it.The signal coming from the circle was sweet and tempting, making their very genes stir. As long as they entered the circle, they could meet the one calling them.
But at that moment, a terrifying pressure descended.
The blood moon turned bright red and released an ominous glow. A massive crack split open in its center.
It looked like a giant eye opening, staring down at the land and locking onto the summoning circle.
All the twisted beasts trembled and dared not come closer.
In the distance, enormous mountains collapsed. A gigantic silver wolf shook its fur, each strand seeming sharp enough to tear space itself.
As it walked closer, the surrounding space blurred. The moon above its head looked as if it had fallen onto its forehead, showing just how massive it was.
Only then did it become clear that it wasn't the moon at all. It was its power. Its extra third eye.

Chapter 3 Weaken Her

But the summoning circle was too small.
If he wanted to form a contract across worlds, he would have to fight against space and time itself. That would take terrifying energy, and he might be reduced to a weak creature.
Yet the desire buried deep in his chaotic mind was impossible to erase.
The bloody glow on the circle was fading.
He could not wait any longer. He lightly touched the circle with the tip of his claw.
After pouring all of his strength into it, his body turned into silver light and merged into the circle.
...
In her new dorm room, Joanna's face was pale from blood loss. Without the support of her affinity points, she looked worn out.
"Did I fail again?"
It wasn't her first failure, but this time she felt especially hopeless.
Just then, the circle suddenly burst into blinding light.
From the silver-white glow, a cute, fluffy creature appeared before her eyes. It looked like a tiny puppy, no bigger than two hands.
Her summoned beast had finally appeared.
Contracted Companion: Nighthowl
Race: Star-Trace Silver Wolf
Rarity: Transcendent
Level: Zero
Attributes: Vitality 100, Strength 100, Agility 100, Spirit 100
Talents: Celestial Gaze, Stellar Constitution, Stellar Dominion
Skills: Lunar Howl, Stellar Rend, Astral Step, Spatial Collapse, Lunar Aegis, Cosmic Umbrage, The Great Ruin
Joanna sucked in a sharp breath.She stared at the stats in disbelief.
Aren't the highest summoned beasts supposed to be Mythic rank?
What is Transcendent?
Did I just pull a super, super rare?
She had never even seen a Level 0 summoned beast with total stats reaching 400. When she was Level 0, her total stats were only 37, and that had already been the best in the entire school.
And this summoned beast had three talents and seven skills.
Everything she knew had just been overturned.
After the shock came overwhelming joy.
Thinking about how blood pact companions were often hard to deal with, she released all the kindness she could.
"Thank you, Nighthowl. Thank you for becoming my contracted companion. You'll be my most loyal partner. I'll do everything I can to train you and never waste your talent."
Tears streamed down Joanna's face again.
This time, they were tears of happiness.
She had turned her life around.
After three years of unfair treatment, confusion, and fear, the arrival of a Transcendent contract beast freed her from it all.
With a companion like this, she was destined for success.
As for Lucas and those heartless teammates, they were not worthy to fight by her side, nor to share her glory.
She cried and laughed at the same time.
At that moment, the tiny silver wolf looked at its own limbs, then at the crying Joanna. It struggled to prop itself up and gently licked away her tears with its fluffy mouth.
"Don't ... cry."
A spiritual message entered Joanna's mind. The voice sounded like a cool, young man, awkwardly trying to comfort her.Joanna's eyes widened in shock, yet it also felt natural.
This was a Transcendent Star-Trace Silver Wolf. Its intelligence would naturally be high, and with a spirit of 100 points, communicating through spiritual messages made sense.
But right now, being comforted only made her feel even more emotional.
People were always more fragile after being hurt.
She suddenly hugged Nighthowl's small body, and the soft fur instantly soothed her heart.
Humans really were more heartless than animals.
...
On the other side, Lucas and the others were leading Rhoda into the standalone villa that Trinity High provided for the top ten teams.
Rhoda had originally been in an all-girls team ranked 11th, but as the Crucible got closer, she felt that a team with mixed A- and B-rank talents was a burden. After Lucas invited her, she decisively quit her old team and joined Dawnbreaker.
Only the top ten teams could live in private villas. This was the kind of treatment someone with an S-rank talent like her deserved.
"You'll stay in this room," Lucas said.
They pushed open a guest room. It had been cleaned, but the decorations were plain, and the lighting was poor, which made Rhoda frown.
"Did Joanna live here before?" she asked.
Lucas paused for a moment, then shook his head. "She lived in the main bedroom upstairs."
"Then why can't I live there?" Rhoda said unhappily.
Bruce spoke up at that moment. "She refused to go to Kayden's team, so she might still come back. There's no spot for her in our team anymore, but she can handle logistics, like washing clothes or cooking. Her food is much better than the cafeteria's. She's lived upstairs for three years, so she's probably used to it."
Cedric smiled brightly and winked at Rhoda.
"If you're not satisfied, I can call her back to help clean your room. This place does need a deep clean and some decorating. What style do you like?" he asked cheerfully.
Neil said, "I don't like girls who are too picky. I hope you'll keep your demands low and focus on dungeon strategies. Our team still has one last dungeon, Desolate Castle, to clear."Under Neil's gaze, Rhoda swallowed her displeasure.
"Don't worry. I'm not a troublesome person. I'll cooperate with everyone. I'll stay in this room. It's only for one month anyway."
To be on the same team as four outstanding and handsome talents, she naturally had to hold back her temper.
Joanna had been envied by many people over the past three years, but now all that glory belonged to Rhoda.
Being surrounded like this made her feel that a little neglect or unfair treatment didn't matter.
Rhoda moved into the bedroom.
The remaining four went to the training room to practice together. As they walked side by side, Cedric suddenly said, "Do you think Joanna will try to contract a summoned beast after leaving us? What if she actually succeeds?"
The others reacted with indifference.
Lucas replied calmly, "She has no money now. Even if she somehow forms a contract, it's too late to raise it. She's destined to switch to a logistics class and live as a woman with no freedom."
Three years ago, when Joanna tried to summon a beast for the first time, the materials she bought were advanced from the school.
By coincidence, Lucas also needed one of those materials, so he took it for himself. Joanna rushed to set up the circle and ended up failing the summon.
That failure caused heavy damage to her spirit, forcing her to rest for half a month. Without free materials anymore, she had to buy everything herself and fell deeply into debt.
During those two weeks, the four of them lived together with Joanna. Since she had no summoned beast, she tried to make up for it in other ways.
She took the initiative to research strategies, helped them with chores, and even handled all the cooking.
They enjoyed all of it without question.
So, when Joanna tried her second summon, Cedric quietly played a trick and altered the summoning circle.