Lackey's Seducing Survival Odyssey

Chapter 1620: The Fallen Primordial…

”As you can see, this artifact mirrors the long-range attacks we commonly use... bows. However, unlike bows, there is no need to draw arrows or prepare ammunition. One simply aims at the target and presses the trigger...” Amara Rosavere continued as she guided the audience through the artifact’s functions.

A faint metallic glint shimmered along its surface as she turned it slightly, allowing the light to catch its important parts, making its structure easier for others to grasp what they were about to purchase.

The crowd listened with focused attention, their gazes fixed on the artifact and her explanation, absorbing every detail about their new artifact that could save them all.

All except Victor, who remained slightly apart, his eyes unfocused as he stared blankly at his log, his thoughts tangled in quiet confusion.

Unidentified Entity?

Who could it be?

Why would something interfere with his blood mutation?

’Is it... them?’ he questioned inwardly, the memory of those two mysterious entities surfacing in his mind, their presence still lingering like a shadow he couldn’t fully grasp.

However,

[Negative! This is originating from within the blood essence of the one the user devoured]

Victor’s expression darkened into a deeper frown.

He briefly glanced toward the ongoing explanation, where Amara’s voice still carried across the space, holding everyone’s attention.

Leaning back slowly into his seat, Victor exhaled quietly and allowed his consciousness to descend inward, slipping into the depths of his twin domains.

...

..

.

In the Twin Domains:

Aether stood above the vast expanse of the twin domains, the space stretching endlessly beneath him like two opposing worlds bound together.

The moment his presence stabilised, a sharp metallic clash echoed through the void, the sound of chains grinding against something immense.

His brows furrowed as he turned his gaze towards the source... the umbra side, the darker half of the domain where shadows moved like living entities.

His eyes widened slightly as the scene revealed itself.

Pure white flames roared violently, their light almost blinding as they surged forward, only to be restrained by thick, coiling chains that wrapped tightly around them.

Each movement of the flames sent sparks scattering like shattered stars.

Opposite to it, a vast ocean of deep crimson blood churned and trembled, waves crashing against unseen boundaries. The surface rippled with a heavy, oppressive force, yet it too was bound, held in place by those same unyielding chains.

And those chains...

They extended outward from a single, colossal eye suspended between them.

The eye, dark and ancient, hovered like a silent judge with overwhelming presence.

It remained fixed between the raging flame and the restless blood, acting as a barrier, forcing both forces into submission as the chains tightened with each attempt to break free.

”What is this...?” Aether muttered with disbelief. ”What exactly is happening here?”

A soft voice reached him, carrying a faint weight of sadness beneath its calm surface.

”Because of your ignorance... I had to seal them before they destroyed each other.”

Aether’s gaze shifted toward the opposite side, the white half of the domain.

There, suspended in the open space, a small birdcage hovered gently, its thin bars glimmering faintly.

Inside it sat a small purplish fairy, delicate in form, her wings faintly shimmering as they moved with quiet restraint. She remained seated on the thin rod within the cage, her head slightly lowered, avoiding his gaze entirely.

Aether didn’t move closer. He didn’t speak immediately either.

It had been weeks since he last came here... since he last faced her.

Grace remained still, her tiny hands resting loosely at her sides as she gently swayed on the rod. Her wings fluttered softly, creating a faint whisper in the air, yet she made no attempt to look at him.

Silence stretched between them.

Something had happened... something neither of them chose to confront.

A misunderstanding?

No... it felt deeper than that. More like a survival instinct of one person caused the other pain?

Whatever it was, neither of them had the courage... or perhaps the will... to meet the other’s eyes.

Aether finally broke the silence, ”Destroy each other... what do you mean by that?”

Even as he spoke, his gaze remained fixed elsewhere, refusing to settle on her.

Grace responded after a brief pause, her tone turned cold,

”Your richly purified flames... they are reacting violently to the demonic blood you consumed.”

She still did not look at him.

Aether exhaled quietly, a faint crease forming between his brows as he turned his attention back to the clashing forces.

The flames surged again, straining against the chains, while the blood roared in response, its waves rising higher with each passing moment.

The massive eye remained unmoving, its chains tightening with silent authority, holding both sides in place... preventing a collapse that felt inevitable.

”Does this... eye belong to you?” Aether asked as his gaze lingered on the massive presence between the clashing forces.

The weight of it pressed against his senses. If she truly possessed this kind of power... he couldn’t simply allow her to remain within his domain without question.

If she had this ability all along... why had she hidden it until now?

’Don’t tell me she was—’

Before the thought could take shape, Grace spoke, her tone calm, almost detached, as her legs continued their slow, absent swing.

”I managed to store some energy during our stay in the Eternal Prison.”

”...”

Aether fell silent.

His eyes lingered on her for a moment, on her small figure that still refused to turn toward him, before shifting back toward the enormous eye.

’So... the mutation stopped because she chained them?’ he asked inwardly, directing the thought toward his log.

[No]

His expression tightened slightly.

’Then what is it?’

[I was unable to analyse due to her restriction, but something within the blood is intervening]

Aether’s frown deepened.

’Within the blood?’

Something inside his own blood... resisting? Acting on its own?

Why?

It had never behaved like this before—

His thoughts halted abruptly.

’Is it because I devoured Lia’s blood?’

[Affirmative]

Aether’s eyes widened just a fraction before narrowing again, his expression hardening.

’But why? Why are my ethereal flames trying to destroy it—’

Then it clicked.

A single word surfaced... ’Demonic.’

The same word his Log had displayed when describing what he consumed.

The same word that clashed violently with the purity of his ethereal flames.

Aether’s teeth clenched as the realisation settled in.

’Damn it...’ he groaned inwardly, frustration rising as the pieces fell into place.

’But still... I devoured it. Even if it was demonic, it should belong to me now, right? It’s forsaken blood... isn’t it?’

His thoughts barely finished forming when Grace’s voice reached him again,

”If you’re wondering why they’re still fighting even after you absorbed it... It’s actually simple.”

”Even if your blood is capable of absorbing another Primordial demonic blood... which is pretty shocking to me, but anyway, the essence of that demonic blood doesn’t disappear.

It remains within you.”

Her fingers lightly tightened around the thin bar of the cage as she continued, her gaze still lowered.

”It becomes a characteristic your blood carries... something it has taken in, not erased.”

A brief pause followed before she finished, her tone turning slightly firmer.

”So as long as that demonic essence exists... your flames will keep trying to destroy it.”

[Affirmative]

The log confirmed it without hesitation.

Aether exhaled slowly.

’Great...’ he muttered inwardly. ’Just when I thought things would finally settle down...’

His gaze returned to the chained forces.

The flames surged again, fierce and unyielding, while the blood answered with equal intensity, neither willing to submit.

A bitter thought surfaced.

He really had been reckless.

He had been a complete idiot to bite her neck... and he knew it.

If he was being honest with himself, there had been a flicker of curiosity in that moment, a reckless urge to know how it would feel... how it would taste.

And most importantly... he had been irritated by Lia’s actions, her attitude, the way she pushed him without hesitation.

Impulse took over!

Now he was left dealing with the consequences of that single, thoughtless decision.

He only wanted revenge... only to end up screwing himself over in the most ironic way possible.

”Is there a way to stop them?” Aether asked quietly.

”Destroy either one of them,” Grace replied in a plain, almost indifferent tone, as if she were stating an obvious truth.

”You cannot balance what was never meant to be balanced.”

”...”

Aether fell silent.

The answer settled over him... but it changed nothing.

He couldn’t destroy them.

His blood and his flames... both were his, both were carved into what he had become through struggle and survival.

To abandon either one now would feel like tearing away a part of himself.

Something earned... Something that defined him!

No.

That was not an option!

No fucking way!!

There had to be another way.

There had to be something beyond this forced choice.

His gaze hardened slightly as thoughts churned through his mind, searching relentlessly for a solution that refused to reveal itself.

”If you blocked them from destroying each other... then why did the mutation stop in the end?” he asked, turning slightly toward her.

Grace paused for a brief moment.

For the first time since he arrived, she lifted her gaze and looked directly at him.

A faint, subtle curve formed on her lips, carrying a trace of quiet amusement, though her eyes remained distant, unreadable.

”Oh? That...” she said softly, almost casually.

”That’s because it belongs to that guy.”

”...Who?”

Aether blinked, confusion flickering across his face as his attention followed the direction of her gesture.

Toward the blood ocean.

The chains wrapped tightly around the crimson expanse of blood shifted slightly, metal grinding softly as they parted just enough to reveal a deeper layer beneath the surface. The blood there moved differently... slower, heavier...

Aether narrowed his eyes, focusing more intently.

At first, there was nothing but endless red, waves folding into one anoth—

Splash!!

”LET ME OUT!!! KKRRRRRRRTTTRRRRRRRTRRR!!!!”

”Holy—!”

Aether recoiled instinctively, his body reacting before his mind could process what he had just seen.

A grotesque, blood-soaked face burst out from the surface, its features twisted unnaturally, its hollow eyes wide with a feral desperation that felt almost alive, and its voice... it was like screaming... it screeched far beyond any wild monsters he had heard.

For a brief, frozen second, it stared directly at him.

Splash!!

Then the crimson ocean swallowed it again.

Clang~

The chains snapped tighter with a sharp metallic pull, sealing the gap again as if nothing had ever emerged.

Aether stood still, his expression tightening into visible disbelief.

”What the hell was that?” he muttered, ”Was that... a person? What is it even doing in there...? No—how is it even in there?”

He turned toward Grace, his face caught between shock and irritation, the suddenness of it leaving a lingering discomfort beneath his skin.

It wasn’t fear.

Just something deeply wrong... something that shouldn’t exist in a place like this.

Hate? Anger? Disgust?

Maybe everything?

Not sure why, but his emotions felt jumbled when he saw it.

Grace gave a small, confirming nod, unaffected by what had just occurred.

”Indeed,” she said.

”The true owner of the Primordial Vampiric Demonic Blood...”

Her voice lowered slightly,

”The Fallen Primordial... Alucard Xal’thren.”

”...Alucard?”

Aether’s eyes sharpened immediately... The name struck something buried within memory.

”You mean... Lia’s father?”

Grace gave a small shrug, her tone turning colder, more detached,

”Mary Scarlet’s husband.”

”...Hu—”

The word barely formed.

Without warning, his consciousness flickered violently, the entire domain trembling as if something had seized him from within and begun pulling him away.

The space warped, the chained forces blurring into streaks of light and shadow.

Aether’s vision fractured—

BOOOMMM!!

Victor’s eyes snapped shut as a blinding flash of light tore through his senses.

The impact followed immediately, a heavy shockwave rippling through the air and pressing against his body with force. His muscles tensed, his heartbeat skipping before racing to catch up.

’Another attack?’