Lackey's Seducing Survival Odyssey

Chapter 1213: Because... You love her. She died! [Bonus]

Aether’s eyes widened in horror as he looked at the glowing message. ”T-Terminated?” His voice cracked, disbelief striking him harder than any blade. He staggered back, rope tightening in his grip.

Just then—

/Aether... I couldn’t sense her pulse./

Nightfire’s voice echoed in his mind. For a second, everything turned blunt, soundless, his mind drowning in numbness. His hands clenched the rope so tightly it burned against his skin. Slowly, he opened his eyes—deep, black, void-like—and glared at Starla, at every ghost around him. The horde trembled under that gaze.

Meanwhile, Nightfire’s trembling fingers brushed over the casket, her eyes darting. She searched every inch, expecting the skeletal body she had seen before... but there was nothing.

No half-decayed body. No grotesque mix of bone and flesh.

Nyx’s body was whole... Fresh. Beautiful in stillness!

”Nyx...” Nightfire whispered, her hand hovering above the woman’s pale skin. Her chest tightened.

She didn’t feel the kind of grief. Nyx was her mistress, her employer, nothing more... and yet, touching that cold flesh, she felt a sting. A strange pain she didn’t understand.

”What happened to you?” she muttered, her tone trembling with unspoken sorrow. She knew Aether would be devastated. She didn’t understand love the way he did, but one thing was undeniable... He liked this woman.

Then... the ground roared.

SSSHHHH~

A massive purplish tornado erupted!!

”What the fuck...” Nightfire muttered, stumbling back as the storm rose higher.

She turned... and froze. Aether was at its heart, his rope whipping in violent circles, faster than the eye could follow. Each lash fueled the spiraling winds until the storm itself seemed to obey his rage.

The ghosts screamed, shrieking as the pull tore at their ghostly figures. Their forms twisted, flickered, and bled into smoke before being dragged screaming into the tornado.

Even Nightfire felt it... the crushing pull of his fury. The sheer force of that rope threatened to tear her off her feet, and she braced herself with clenched fists.

”ARRRRHHHHHHHH!!!”

Aether’s roar split the sky, his body wreathed in violent winds as the tornado howled above him.

Starla held her ground with desperate strength, her massive sword jammed into the earth like an anchor. Her legs dangled helplessly in the air, her fingers the only thing keeping her from being swallowed by the storm.

Her eyes locked on Aether, who stood with blank, motionless eyes colder than death.

’I kept my word until the end, My Lady,’ Starla thought, her lips trembling.

Then her strength gave way. Her fingers slipped from the hilt. She released her sword, and her body was consumed by the storm.

Aether snarled and, with a final whip, flung the ghosts skyward. The tornado howled, then split apart, scattering away!

Silence fell.

In the next heartbeat, he stood behind the casket. His shadow fell across the pale figure inside. Nyx, her body covered in soft flowers, lay sleeping beautifully.

His fists clenched, trembling. His vision blurred with mist. ”Nyx?” he whispered, voice fragile.

No answer.

Nightfire stayed silent. She stood beside him, watching. She knew there were no words she could say. All she could do was wait—wait for him to calm down... or break down completely.

Aether’s hand rose, rough and shaking, brushing Nightfire’s hair aside. Then he pressed trembling fingers against Nyx’s neck.

No pulse... Not a flicker.

His lips trembled. ”Why?” he whispered. Slowly, carefully, he lifted her from the casket, her body limp in his arms.

He had done everything. He had fought. He had endured... He did all he could....

She was always distant, cold, and rarely spoke.

Indifferent and emotionless most of the time, but... today that changed, when she started to show emotions And yet—why? Why did she leave him like this?

What the fuck happened to her?

Why wasn’t she waking up?!

Only hours ago, they were together. They had laughed. Mingled. Shared something more than words. For the first time, she had let herself feel. For the first time, she had smiled. For the first time, they had made love.

For the first time... she had asked.

Aether’s throat closed. His lips quivered as he stared at her unmoving face. ”Nyx... are you playing a game with me again?” His voice cracked.

But there was no answer except...

”Thank you... for everything.”

Those words... the last ones she had spoken... echoed again in Aether’s mind.

He froze. His chest clenched as the memory stabbed deeper. His hand dragged across his face.

How had he not noticed it before?! The softness in her voice, the finality in her tone—it was there.

It was all there.

It was he who didn’t sense it!

His eyes widened, his lips trembling as he muttered to himself, ”Does that mean... she knew something was going to happen to her?”

”Yes, M-My Lord.”

The voice cut through his haze. Aether turned his head sharply. Starla stood there, wounded and panting. Behind her were several ghosts, the few that had managed to escape the storm of his wrath.

Aether stared at Starla, his expression blank, unblinking. He didn’t ask. He didn’t need to. She already knew. She lowered herself, kneeling on one leg before him, her head bowed in solemn respect.

”As you may know... she was a miracle child,” Starla said, her voice trembling with memory and reverence.

”Born between life and death itself... a half-soul being who somehow managed to exist in this world. Because of that half soul, she could reach into the other side. She could touch the regretful, the wandering, the lost... like us. She could bind us. She could speak to us. She gave us meaning again. She made pacts with us. For people like us... she was a miracle.”

Starla’s voice cracked, her eyes unfocused as she remembered. The endless years of darkness, trapped within stone, her spirit bound inside a cavern for thousands of years. No sound, no light, no warmth.... with regrets and pain.

Until one day... a small hand touched her prison. A strange little girl with pale skin and cold eyes. A girl who smiled faintly and offered a contract. A girl who reached for her before ”The Eye” could drag her into nothingness.... Nyx Shadowfall.

Starla clenched her fists, her eyes locked on the motionless Queen lying in Aether’s arms.

”Yet that same thing... that same miracle... was her curse,” she whispered, breaking slightly, ”Because of her half-soul state, her ability to live a complete life was shattered from the very beginning. Every single day she was born, she walked on the sword’s edge between life and death. And as she grew older... the time she spent in that death state only grew longer... and longer.”

Nightfire frowned, her arms tightening around herself as the pieces began falling into place. ”Is that... related to why she was digging the grave?” she asked.

Starla sighed as if she didn’t want to say anything, her shoulders trembling slightly.

”Starla, answer,” Aether asked, his tone flat and indifferent, though the stillness in his eyes carried a sharp edge that warned there would be no patience left if she hesitated again.

Starla nodded, sighing again, longer this time, her lips quivering.

”The Living should not hear this... But,” she exhaled slowly, ”yes, the reason she kept digging the grave was that... those empty graves hold... ’The will’. The will of the souls that died. As you know, when a being died here, Our Grace honoured them with a grave... but it’s not just a grave... the grave carries the Memories and wills of the souls purified in the Path of Samsara... that was the way to honour the dead... this only we, souls, knew and understood, not you people. We persuaded our Queen to use that Will and... my Queen was able to prolong her living state by absorbing that will”

”...” Aether blankly stared at Nyx, his expression unreadable. She had been doing so much, too much, with that fragile body of hers.

”...” Aether blankly stared at Nyx, his expression unreadable. She had been doing so much, too much, with that fragile body of hers.

!~Ding~!

[❗Warning: Skill: Rebirth cannot be used on an incomplete soul!]

’Again!’

!~Ding~!

[❗Warning: Skill: Rebirth cannot be used on an incomplete soul!]

’Again!’

!~Ding~!

[❗Warning: Skill: Rebirth cannot be used on an incomplete soul!]

’Again!’

!~Ding~!

[❗Warning: Skill: Aethernal Seal cannot be formed on death!]

....

...

He wasn’t just hearing the story... he was forcing every drop of energy within him, doing everything possible to bring her back.

”Then why is she not moving now? Did she not get enough will?” Aether asked, his voice dropping to a cold and dangerous tone that made the air itself feel heavier.... as if... he was going to find every will.

Starla lowered her head, shaking it with a faint tremor. ”I am sorry, my Lord, but... that wasn’t a permanent solution at all.”

Aether bit down on his lips as he blankly stared at her before looking at Nyx. He nodded a few times, each nod sharper than the last. ”You could have just told me, right? Am I not enough to be trusted to know?... I... I could have done something... anything...” His voice cracked between rage and helplessness.

”How would she, my Lord?” Starla gave a faint, sorrowful smile, though her eyes glistened with bitterness, as she pointed towards Nightfire and added, ”You took her wife... My Queen didn’t have the heart to break you.”

Nightfire and Aether frowned almost at the same time, ”What do you mean?”

Starla slowly glanced at Nightfire, her eyes trembling. ”The only way to heal her half soul... was with the soul inside this weird woman... A vessel that held two souls.”

Nightfire’s face drained of colour instantly, her hands clenching tightly.

”S-So the reason she took me in... was...”

”In order to take your other soul, purify and use it on her... yes,” Starla said with closed eyes.

Nightfire’s face twisted into horror as her lips curled into a furious snarl at the sight of dead Nyx.

Her heart thundered, blood boiling with disbelief. Did this woman try to take away her sister... Ashara?

How in the world did she fall for such a trap!!

Aether blankly stared at Nyx, ”Then why the sudden change?” he asked without getting angry at all.

Nightfire’s lips twitched, her jaw tightening. Bastard... wasn’t he supposed to explode in rage for her?

Wasn’t he supposed to strike the ground and tear apart everything?

Starla lifted her head and spoke only one sentence, her voice trembling yet certain, ”Because... you love her.”

Nightfire raised her eyebrows in surprise, her heart skipping a beat. ’So if he didn’t love... she would have sacrificed my Ashara? The hell!!’ Her mind reeled in disbelief, and yet she could not fully deny it.

Aether gave a faint hum, then slowly placed Nyx’s body back in the casket. He lowered his head, kissing her cold forehead softly, almost reverently, before turning to Nightfire.

”Will you take care of her?”

”...” Nightfire’s throat went dry. Every instinct screamed to say no, to spit on that corpse after what Nyx had tried to do... but when she looked into Aether’s eyes, pleading yet lovely, she couldn’t.

She reluctantly nodded...

’Tsk, I am way too easy... aren’t I!’ she thought bitterly, clicking her tongue inside her mouth.

Aether smiled faintly, nodded once, and then turned away without another word.

Starla looked down at her Queen, her eyes glassy with tears, as she muttered softly, ”My Queen said... she really felt alive today.” Her voice broke with a quiet sob.

Aether halted his steps for a brief moment... before walking away again.

Nightfire suddenly shouted, ”Where are you going now?”

”Where else?... The place where souls are guided.” With those words, Aether stomped the ground, a shockwave cracking through the stone, and his body shot into the sky with violent force.

Starla muttered, her voice trembling in awe and fear, ”Grenthollow?”

.