Lackey's Seducing Survival Odyssey

Chapter 1420: In the end... I truly have nothing but pain to give.

To think Delphine would be ready to give up and stay in this dark hell... even though she was the one who was supposed to break up with Aether, yet she protected him?

Why?

Why did she have to do it?

There was no reason for it, right?

Why the fuck did she want to save a person she broke up with?

Why cling to someone she had pushed away?

Why?

The answer was always obvious... it lived in the small tremble of her breath, the tightness in her throat, the way her heart still reached for him even after everything shattered.

”I love you... I did, and I always do,” Delphine said with a small smile, a fragile curve of lips trembling in the darkness, ”Good... bye,” she whispered as the crystal hit Aether’s body, cracking it fully.

Or so she thought, but,

THUD!

CRACK!!!!

Aether just tilted his body as the crystal went past him.

It slammed against the ground, cracking open like bone before disappearing into the endless black.

Delphine’s eyes widened in horror, ”W-What have you done?” Her voice broke as if the words were dragged out of her ribs.

Aether blankly stared at her... did he make a mistake?

Of course not.

But... he didn’t like the choice he was given.

He didn’t like the fate forced on them.

He didn’t like watching her sacrifice herself again and again while he stood still, bleeding in silence.

Delphine was utterly confused and lost... she just lost the one way out of this dark hell.

Her fingers trembled as she looked at the empty space where hope once hovered.

Grace, who was hovering near Aether... she, who thought she was finally escaping from this place, was utterly shocked as she looked at the man.

An idiot who just threw away a one-time ticket. Her wings twitched with disbelief and anger as she tried to grasp what she had just witnessed.

”FUCKE—”

Before she could finish her words,

SSSNNNNGGGGG~

The sound slithered through the dark. The group flinched when they heard something rising from behind Aether, a vibration that made the ground throb beneath their feet.

Grace’s wings fluttered as she flew higher with a frown, and she turned toward Aether’s side.

She saw that the chains that led to Arcane, the massive chains that anchored her, were trembling.

One after another, they snapped, falling down to the ground before dissolving into the spreading void.

”Shit! The chains are falling and disappearing!” Grace shouted furiously.

Aether and Delphine flinched, their faces turning pale. They thought with just these chains they didn’t need to worry about being caught by those unknown watchers, but now...

Everything was so messed up.

Aether shouted, ”Let’s run...” His voice cracked as he pushed his legs forward, shouting again as he started to run toward Delphine’s side.

Delphine nodded as she started to run back.

Grace, who was hovering in the air, looked at the running Aether and... into the darkness.

She gritted her teeth, ”I am not staying here!” she said as she flew into the darkness, wings beating hard as panic and determination collided inside her chest.

Aether blinked when the purple light slowly disappeared, ”Grace?” He glanced back... and saw a purple light fly away into the darkness, shrinking until it vanished like a dying ember.

”Where the fuck is she going?” Aether muttered as he kept running along the chain, the trembling links falling behind him and crashing into the ground one by one before dissolving.

”We need to find Mother—” Delphine shouted, however she stumbled on something as she was about to fall forward, but Aether caught her.

”Don’t look up,” he said seriously. He couldn’t see whether she was looking up or down, but it was better to warn her before she saw something she could never unsee.

Delphine stood back, ”I-I am sorr—”

SSSNNNNGGGGG~

The sound came from before Delphine... a deep, grinding vibration that crawled through the darkness. Both Aether’s and Delphine’s eyes widened.

The chains that were leading to Mother were disappearing too, weren’t they?

Delphine’s face turned pale as she hugged Aether tightly, ”Y-You idiot! You wasted your opportunity!” Her arms clung to him like she feared the darkness would tear him away any second.

Aether weakly smiled as he hugged her tightly... thank goodness he didn’t leave her alone here. Otherwise...

He didn’t want to think that far now.

Sure, her words about quantity mattered.

So many women were waiting for him back home compared to one. A rational mind would choose to return first and do what was necessary, but...

The truth was that those women had their families... had others to support them. Even if he vanished, they would endure.

But this woman?

In this lonely place?

Where nothing lived except pain, silence, and darkness?

Nah, he would stay with her.

Delphine’s hands trembled, ”W-Why? Why did you leave? Did you think I would blame you? Huh?”

Aether weakly smiled, ”You already know the answer, right?”

Delphine’s shoulders trembled as she bit her lips... of course, she knew. She knew exactly why, and that truth hurt more than the darkness around them.

”B-But now... nobody gets out of this place... we wasted it. Aether... I... I...” Her breath hitched, the words choking her.

”Sshhh,” Aether hushed her, ”Don’t worry... it doesn’t matter. I will protect you, and we will leave this place,” he said, but as he finished speaking, the chain he was holding suddenly fell from his grasp, slipping away like a snake shedding skin and crashing down before disappearing as if it was never there to begin with.

The chain they were holding disappeared... leaving them in the darkness void again.

Delphine bit her lips, ”Now those monsters are going to come and... break us,” she whispered, her hand clenching onto his back.

Not because she feared pain... Not because she feared death.

But because she would have to see Aether dying again and again.

Seeing your love die again and again... it was worse than your own death itself.

Aether looked around.

The entire space turned silent, not even Grace’s purple light anywhere near.

Nothing but darkness.

.....h.

Both Aether and Delphine flinched as they felt something moving.

A slow drag. A shift in the void itself.

”They’re here...” Delphine whispered, her voice so thin it barely existed.

They were coming.

They were fucking coming now.

Aether gritted his teeth as he hugged her back tightly... the last thing he wanted was to see his beloved getting killed again and again.

....h..

”If only you used it... I-If only you saved yourself,” Aether muttered in his mind.

Fuck.

”What should we do?” Delphine breathed, her fingers clutching his shirt.

From the looks of their bodies... it seemed they might not be able to handle any more deaths. Their skin numbed under an icy pressure, their insides twisted as if something squeezed their organs with invisible hands. The moment the chain disappeared, it felt like the world itself turned against them.

They already lost the way out...

...h...

”That’s it,” Delphine whispered, her breath shaking, ”We’re done for.”

Aether swallowed hard as despair scraped at the inside of his chest.

’Log... I need you now!’ Aether clenched his fist as he screamed inside.

But no.

It didn’t respond to him... neither did his fucking skills.

None of them was working.

None!!

What about his blood?

He wished he could.

He used his blood sometimes to escape or make miracles, right?

But... to his cruel fate... no. This time, blood was not going to save him, and it seemed No.27 locked him deeply to avoid him getting powers anymore.

..h....

Every single fucking thing that helped him all the way... now left him alone.

Not even the energy stored inside his body was flowing. The chains still wrapped tightly around his limbs held him prisoner, choking everything that made him who he was.

He literally had nothing.

He was utterly powerless... just like the first time... just like how he was before... before becoming Ether.

Delphine stared at him with shaking eyes, ”Aether... I don’t want to watch you die again... I can’t.”

Aether bit the inside of his cheek. Delphine was caught because he made a mistake... and now she was suffering too because of him.

Aether’s eyes trembled not in fear but in pain... a deep, soul-tearing ache that made his breath falter.

”In the end...” he whispered to himself, voice raw, ”I truly have nothing but pain to give.”

Around them, the darkness moved again... closer.

.h.....

Aether hugged her tightly as he closed his eyes... so did she.

They hugged each other tightly as if they didn’t want to see the other dying again. As if this single moment of warmth was the last thing holding them together.

Just as they were ready to face it... when,

/Ae.../

The sound wasn’t a voice, not exactly. Something echoed within Aether, vibrating through his ribs like a heartbeat that wasn’t his. A voice not in his mind but rather within his body... part of him waking.

Aether’s eyes shot open as he muttered, ”Nyx?”

H.....!

Just as Aether felt a presence stand before him suddenly, the air rippled like a wave pushed through reality.

Spark!

A spark erupted in the dark void and...

Ssshhhhh~

That spark stretched, expanding, twisting, growing into a massive white-black portal swirling like a warped galaxy. The light cut into the darkness, forcing shadows to retreat as the portal spun with a low, thunder-like hum.

Aether’s eyes widened in shock as he saw... the thing that hunted them in the darkness.

That thing!

It looked human only in shape.

No skin.

Exposed muscle glistened like rotting meat soaked in black water. Its body twitched and stretched unnaturally, towering above them. And the face... There was no face.

Only a star-like crack split open across where features should have been, glowing faintly as if something inside tried to look out.

Its head hovered an inch from Delphine’s head.

And even more... there was another one behind Aether, which he didn’t notice yet. Its face split clean apart, opening sideways with another star crack flickering violently inside.

It happened in a fraction of a second, and the moment the portal appeared—

!!!

Those things immediately ran away.

.h.....

..h....

...h...

.....h.

...h!

They scattered like insects escaping fire, limbs dragging across the void.

Aether stood frozen, the terror still etched in his bones, his mind struggling to register how close death had been.

He could still feel the cold where the creature’s head hovered near Delphine.