Lackey's Seducing Survival Odyssey

Chapter 1422: When fate itself wanted to hide him from her!

Hunting the Origin Monsters was never easy.

No, they were not just strong... Some fell with little effort. Yet strength alone was never the real problem.

They lived outside the barrier.

Beyond the protection that separated the world from raw, clashing energies.

Only the Chosen ones, and those rare beings capable of enduring both energies without being torn apart, could even step beyond that boundary and survive long enough to hunt.

”Grrrlll!~”

The sound rolled low and threatening as a glowing white wolf bared its fangs at Raven.

Blackish purple sparks crawled across her body like living veins of lightning. She stood calm, almost bored. Slowly, deliberately, she lifted her hand and beckoned with two fingers.

The wolf answered with fury.

It leapt, jaws wide, claws tearing through the air, its body blazing with white light.

The instant it got close, blackish purple lightning erupted. It slammed into the wolf with brutal force, swallowing its glow, crushing bone, flesh, and energy in a violent flash.

When the light faded, nothing remained but drifting ashes.

Raven crouched. She sifted through the remains and plucked an Origin Crystal from the ash pile. Its surface pulsed faintly, warm against her fingers. She blew gently on it, clearing the residue, before placing it into the large bag resting near the tree.

”Shit!!”

Nightfire’s shout cut through the silence.

She sprinted forward as a massive bull thundered behind her. The creature snorted violently, muscles rippling, horns lowered with deadly intent.

It was coming straight for her.

The horns were seconds away from piercing her butt, driving her into the dirt.

Her tail snapped forward like a coiled spring, launching her upward. She flipped backwards, body twisting, and landed hard on the bull’s back.

Her eyes widened,

”I got it! I got it!”

”AARRRHH!!”

The bull roared and shook violently, thrashing side to side, slamming its body into trees and rocks. Nightfire clawed desperately,

”R-Raven! Help meeee!!!”

THUNDER!!!

Meanwhile, in the Zephyra Empire,

Ssshh~

A howling wind surged across the skies. Hundreds of mutated birds screeched as they were cut down midair, bodies dropping like rain.

Arrows flew from every direction, piercing wings, skulls, and hearts before the creatures could react.

Aria moved with the wind itself.

Her silver hair streamed behind her as she leapt from one mountain peak to another, feet barely touching stone.

The air guided her steps, lifting her higher, carrying her farther. Her compact bow whirred violently, its wheels screeching as she loosed arrow after arrow without pause, each shot guided by calm focus and furious intent.

”Grrlll~”

Below, mutated lions circled a massive onyx wolf.

Their growls echoed as yellow eyes locked onto the lone figure standing unafraid at the centre. The onyx wolf stared back.

It noticed the encirclement, the tightening ring of predators, and smirked.

One step forward.

A lion flinched, muscles tensing, ready to strike.

The onyx wolf vanished.

A gust of wind exploded. Confusion rippled through the pack as heads snapped around, claws scraping the ground.

Then, in the next heartbeat, the wolf reappeared behind them.

Its jaws were locked around the neck of a lion.

The wolf spat it aside and slammed its massive paw down, crushing bone with a wet crack.

The remaining lions roared, fury and fear mixing together.

They lunged as one.

In a matter of seconds, blood painted the earth. The pack fell one by one until nothing remained but torn bodies and silence, the ground soaked red beneath the shadow of the onyx wolf.

The big onyx wolf slowly morphed, its massive frame shrinking and reshaping until a handsome man stood in its place. He crouched down and picked up an Origin Crystal from the bloody ground, its surface slick with fresh red stains.

Drops of blood dripped steadily onto the earth. The man lifted his gaze, eyes narrowing as he took in the sight above.

The entire sky had turned into a curtain of crimson, rain falling like spilled lifeblood from the heavens.

”She’s... overdoing it,” Kaelen muttered in a weak.

Meanwhile, in the Naiadae Empire,

”KYRRRR!!!”

A monstrous mermaid screeched violently, her wicked face twisted in terror. A glowing Origin Crystal burned on her forehead as she stared ahead in disbelief.

A tsunami surged toward her.

Not ordinary waves, not water shaped by nature.

This one was filled with nothing but sharp, razor-blue blades, spinning and slicing as they flowed unnaturally from land into water, defying every law of the sea.

Above it all hovered a glowing water goddess, radiant like a rising sun. Aqualina raised her hand with calm authority. With a single motion, the tsunami of blades crashed into the ocean, tearing through everything in its path. Monsters screamed as they fled, only to be shredded mercilessly.

The blue ocean darkened, then slowly turned blood red.

Hundreds of Origin Crystals surfaced, plopping gently atop the waves, glittering amid the spreading crimson.

Meanwhile, in the Aurora Empire,

A white, beaming light surged forward, burning through rabbits that looked cute and innocent.

Helena stood firm, white flames blazing in her hands as she shot fire after fire at the monsters.

No matter how adorable they appeared, she knew the truth...

”May you rest in peace,” she said quietly as she incinerated another group of rabbit monsters.

While she focused on the ones ahead, one rabbit sneaked up behind her.

It paused, staring at her back. Slowly, its face morphed. Its eyes dripped with blood as they widened grotesquely. The small, cute mouth stretched unnaturally, razor-sharp teeth bursting outward as it leapt toward Helena’s head.

Just inches away from biting her head off, another wide mouth snapped open.

Crunch!

The creature was swallowed whole, crushed into mangled flesh.

Snowflake hissed furiously, spitting the Origin Crystal onto the ground before slithering back into the shadows to hunt more monsters.

...

While everyone was busy hunting the monsters, meanwhile, back in the Pyra Empire,

”Never thought I would stay silent while my daughter fights alone,” Sandra muttered in an annoyed tone.

Sandra and the others stood in the palace garden. Xara knelt at the centre, carving a complex magic circle into the ground.

Sandra and the rest formed a loose ring around her, worry etched clearly on their faces.

Thalia held Nyx in her arms, the girl completely unconscious. Sera, the Archpriestess, examined Nyx carefully, her hands glowing faintly as she searched for any sign, any trace, anything she could sense.

There was nothing wrong with her.

”Just where did he get stuck,” Sera muttered, her voice tight with worry and a creeping fear she tried to suppress.

”And I cannot believe he made a deal with a god.”

The moment those words settled, her heart nearly skipped a beat.

She had always known. Aether was a god.

He possessed something no one else did, something that set him apart from all others.

She did not mention the golden feather Aether kept hidden in his storage space.

Not to anyone.

Not even to Helena.

Did that mean he had made a deal with... another god?

A God Vs A God?

But how? And when?

Nothing made sense anymore. Everything surrounding Aether felt tangled and wrong, layered with secrets that refused to surface.

Somehow, he stood at the centre of all this chaos, bound to it by invisible threads, yet completely ignorant of their pull, as if fate itself moved without his consent.

Xara, still carving the magic circle into the stone, shook her head slowly,

”It’s not exactly that he did something,” she said, her voice calm yet strained beneath the surface. ”I believe something else happened. Something important that we still don’t know. And unless we uncover that truth—”

”Who his parents were?”

Sandra finished the thought with a tired sigh, exhaustion evident in her tone. Her eyes shifted toward Celestia, who could only offer an awkward, uncertain shrug in response.

Everyone frowned.

Xara paused, halting her carving mid-line, and looked up at Sandra, her brows knitting together.

”Did you find them?”

Sandra exhaled and began walking slowly around the unfinished magic circle...

”After we learned where Aether was found,” she said quietly, ”he told us he was kidnapped by the village that performed sacrifices, right?”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Everyone except Emberlyn.

Emberlyn’s expression stiffened. She had never heard this before. Not a single word about Aether’s past like that had ever reached her ears.

It wasn’t that she had the right to know everything.

She understood that well enough.

Still...

Her gaze drifted to Maelona, who stood there with a look that suggested she already knew.

That Mother-in-law knew, but... she was not?

How wrong!

She really wanted to have beef with Aether now! Hoping he will definitely come!!

Sandra continued,

”I did my research with Celestia,” she said. ”We were curious about his birth parents. About where he truly came from.”

Eyes widened across the group.

No one had ever seriously thought about that before.

Aether had said he was kidnapped, and that explanation had been accepted without question. His parents were never discussed, never searched for.

Selene clenched her fist tightly, guilt flickering across her face.

”Did you find them?” she asked.

How disgraceful that it had never crossed her mind until now.

Sandra nodded slowly,

”We found the list of children who were kidnapped,” she said. ”And among them... There was never any mention of a child with white hair. Not even one with blue eyes.”

She gestured toward Celestia.

Celestia spoke immediately,

”I went through every reported missing child,” she said. ”Most of the reports were clustered around Ebony Village. That tells us they were taking children close to their own territory, not travelling far to do it.”

She paused,

”Ebony Village is secluded. Hardly anyone interacts with them. It makes sense that many kidnappings went unreported. So I changed my approach to... Birth records. I searched for any record that mentioned clear identifying features.”

Her hand clenched into a fist as she exhaled sharply.

”No. Nothing,” she said. ”There wasn’t a single report of a child who matched Aether. Not even one.”

Silence settled heavily over the group.

After all, Aether’s features were not extraordinary on their own.

His eye colour could be found anywhere. His hair, though striking, was not unheard of.

There was nothing uniquely identifying about him.

And yet...

Yet for some reason... There was no child born with those features around that time.

Not even individually.

Much less the exact combination that Aether possessed together.

That alone felt wrong.

Maelona frowned, her lips parting slowly as a thought crossed her mind.

”Maybe they could be—”

Before she could finish, Sandra interrupted,

”No,” she said. ”There were no deaths of any couple. Not even of anyone at all, in fact.”

Eyebrows rose across the group.

Sandra gave a weak, weary smile,

”Since we couldn’t find any birth reports,” she continued, ”we assumed his parents might have been killed. Considering he was just a newborn, we expanded the scope of our search. We investigated every death record from a few months before his appearance... and a few months after.”

She paused deliberately,

”Do you know what we found?”

Everyone swallowed.

Thalia finally spoke, ”What did you find?”

Sandra’s expression hardened completely.

”Nothing.”

”Huh?”

Sandra lowered her gaze slightly,

”Not even... a single death occurred during that entire period.”

A heavy silence followed.

Xara shook her head slowly,

”I don’t think that’s possible,” she said. ”At least one or two people die every week. With the kind of danger we live in, that’s unavoidable.”

”That’s exactly what makes this so disturbing,” Sandra replied. ”There were no reports of a white-haired child. Not even a blue-eyed one. Which, on its own, is already highly unlikely.”

She clenched her jaw,

”And death happens every fucking single day. For everyone. Yet during that specific window of time...”

Her voice dropped further.

”No births. No deaths. Nothing at all. As if—”

”Someone deliberately doing it?”

Selene frowned deeply as she voiced the thought that had settled over all of them.

Sandra inhaled slowly,

”That’s... I don’t know,” she admitted. ”It shouldn’t be possible. We’re talking about nature itself. Birth and death aren’t things we can control.”

Everyone frowned deeply.

Xara lowered her gaze, brows furrowed tightly, then resumed carving the magic circle.

”M-Maybe his parents abandoned him?” Emberlyn added hesitantly.

Xara paused for a second.

So did everyone else.

That possibility existed.

It was plausible.

But even then... why would birth and death records be disturbed as well?

Why would reality itself seem to bend around that moment?

It felt as though fate had intervened directly.

As though the world itself did not want anyone to trace Aether’s origin.

...

Time passed slowly.

Almost an entire day slipped by in restless tension and silent waiting.

By the next morning, everyone gathered once more, each carrying bags heavy with Origin Crystals, exhaustion etched into their faces.

Xara’s expression turned grave as her eyes moved over them one by one.

Indifferent Raven.

Horrified Nightfire.

Worried Aria.

Blinking Kaelen.

Serious Aqualina.

Deeply worried, Helena.

And Snowflake, eyes glassy, trembling, barely holding back tears as she tilted her head side to side, worried about her Master’s disappearance.

Xara finally turned her gaze toward the towering pile of Origin Crystals stacked in the palace garden, their glow reflecting faintly against the completed magic circle beneath them.

”Let’s hope this will be enough,” she muttered quietly.