Lackey's Seducing Survival Odyssey

Chapter 1424: Sorry for the delay... It took some time to catch them all

Right after taking Aether’s Ownership, Nyx always felt their weird connection that was cut off yet lively... It felt like the internet was working perfectly, data flowing everywhere... except she hadn’t paid to receive any of it.

Yet the cable still belonged to her.

Somewhere, buried deep within the binding, she still held authority. And as long as she could locate the exact point where the connection had been cut, she knew she could force herself back into alignment with Aether.

As the knot of the Pasa rope loosened, not even fully unwinding,

”Arhh!”

Nyx screamed as her body lifted from the ground, slowly drawn upward. Her hair lashed wildly, dancing in a violent current erupting from the magic circle below, her head jerking forward and back as if something unseen tugged at her spine.

”Hehe~”

White and black lightning poured violently from the magic circle, twisting together like warring serpents. Nyx’s body flickered between states, her form stuttering as if reality itself hesitated to accept what she truly was.

Then... it began to change.

Everyone staggered backwards in horror when they saw it.

Lively Nyx, vibrant and whole only moments ago, watched as half her skin began to shift unnaturally, crawling and peeling away in a grotesque dance.

Bone emerged beneath, pale and exposed, forming a perfect half skeletal visage fused with living flesh.

”What the fuck?” Thalia shouted.

Nightfire shoved everyone aside, boots scraping against stone as she moved closer to the magic circle, her expression tight with fear,

”Nyx... Are you sure about this? You know what happens if you go too far. You might lose your soul again.”

A heavy silence fell over the group.

One by one, they blinked in stunned disbelief, exchanging looks filled with confusion, dread, and disbelief.

”What the heck is she?” Sandra whispered, ”I have never seen anything like this...”

Half skeletal... Half flesh?

It was wrong.

It was horrifying.

It was freaking weird.

Even so, despite the revulsion clawing at their stomachs, despite Helena nearly turning away to vomit, something else surfaced beneath the disgust.

Worry.

”What is she doing?” Xara asked quietly as she turned toward Starla.

Starla stood rigid, helpless, like a knight watching her Queen walk willingly toward execution.

”My Queen...”

Her voice wavered before she steadied it.

”I think she is trying to reach him through her soul. Not calling him. Not summoning.”

She swallowed.

”Connecting directly?”

Even Starla did not sound certain.

”Will... she be alright?” Xara asked, a faint frown creasing her face.

Starla glanced at her, surprised.

This woman... was genuinely worried.

”I don’t know...” Starla murmured honestly.

Xara hummed under her breath, thinking, before shifting her gaze to Sera.

Sera met her eyes and gave a slow nod.

Just in case.

None of them wanted Nyx to die.

Meanwhile, Nyx’s vision twisted violently.

One eye rolled back, disappearing into white as the flower tattoo on her hand blazed furiously, flooding the air with violent bursts of shifting multicoloured light. Her other eye socket burned, purple flames roaring to life, casting warped shadows across her exposed bone.

Her body shook uncontrollably.

The Pasa rope slowly, carefully, it began to unwrap itself from her hand, coil by coil slipping away, until only one knot remained.

The first knot.

The final restraint.

The fragile thread was barely holding life and death together.

Nightfire and Starla bit their lips, worry etched deep into their faces, while Xara kept glancing at the Origin Stones as their glow dimmed faster and faster.

They were draining at an alarming rate.

They did not have enough time.

Nyx’s soul began to separate from her body, wrapped in a soft white mist that curled around her like breath on a cold night.

As her awareness shifted, she looked back and saw everyone staring at her body, frozen in fear, helpless, eyes wide with desperation.

And then she saw it.

Golden chains.

They were wrapped tightly around her soul hand, warm and heavy, glowing with an unmistakable authority.

The connection.

Her connection with Aether!

Nyx clenched her fist around them and closed her eyes.

”Aether...”

The golden chains shuddered violently, humming as though they were carrying her call across an impossible distance.

For a moment, hope flared.

Then the chains froze. And just like that, the transmission stopped, as if something had severed it cleanly.

Nyx’s eyes snapped open.

Slowly, cautiously, she tugged at the golden chains.

Clang~

Clang~

The sound echoed unnaturally as the chains began to move as she followed their path. Her gaze trailed along their length, and that was when she realised something deeply wrong.

The chains did not lead outward.

They led back.

They wrapped around her physical body... and then split, branching outward like roots.

Nyx’s breath caught when she followed them further.

The golden chains were coiled around the feet of every woman standing there.

Every single one of them.

Why?

”Hehe~”

Nyx’s soul flinched and spun toward the source.

Her eyes widened in pure shock.

A feminine black figure stood partially hidden behind the group, peeking out as if playing a twisted game of hide and seek. Its form swallowed light, edges blurred and undefined.

The moment Nyx noticed it, a massive white grin tore across its face.

Too wide!

It slipped away from the group effortlessly, clutching something dark in its hand.

”Hehe~”

The giggle echoed as it darted behind the palace walls.

Nyx did not hesitate.

Her soul glided forward through the air as she followed it.

Starla watched Nyx’s soul move, her eyes locked onto it, unable to look away. She did not see the black figure at all.

To her, there was only Nyx’s soul drifting away.

After all, Starla herself was a soul.

At the corner of the palace, Nyx’s soul hovered in place.

The feminine black figure stood there waiting, its grin stretched wider than before, somehow more unsettling than Nyx’s own half-dead form.

Nyx hesitated.

Then, forcing herself, she tried to smile.

”H-Hello?”

The figure did not respond.

Its grin only widened.

Nyx swallowed and tried again, smiling awkwardly, carefully, as if approaching a dangerous animal.

She wanted it to know she meant no harm.

She did not know why she felt that was important, but she did.

As she drifted closer,

”I... I need to get my husband back. I need to summon hi—”

Before she could finish, the grinning figure raised a finger and pressed it gently against its grin.

”Ssshh!”

It hissed softly.

And somehow, that silence felt far more dangerous than any scream.

Nyx nodded slowly, her movement almost mechanical.

”O-Okay.”

Even then, she kept staring at the figure without a trace of fear.

She only wanted to make contact.

Friendly contact.

After all, this was how it had always begun before.

This was how she had reached souls that hid from her.

Even souls that lashed out, screamed, or tried to tear her apart.

For a brief moment, nothing happened.

Then the feminine figure raised its other hand, the one that had been empty, extending it slowly toward Nyx.

Its fingers bent at odd angles.

Nyx blinked.

She smiled instinctively, lifting her own hand to meet it, as she reached forward to shake it.

But at the last second, the black feminine figure pulled its hand back.

It shook its head.

Then it pointed toward the golden chains wrapped around Nyx’s soul hand.

”O-Oh?”

Nyx hesitated, then nodded awkwardly.

”Okay...”

She did not understand why she felt compelled to comply, but her hand moved anyway, loosening its grip as she offered the golden chains to the black feminine figure.

Clang~

The figure grasped the golden chain in one hand, and the other hand held the black chain.

It stared at both chains.

Its grin stretched wider almost... Wicked!

Nyx flinched, a chill finally creeping up her spine. She nodded again, forcing herself to smile.

She did not know why she was doing this.

Then the figure yanked both chains together with sudden, violent force.

TANG!

A shrill metallic crack split the air as sparks erupted between black and gold, writhing like living things for a heartbeat.

Nyx’s soul was ripped backwards.

She slammed back into her body as it convulsed violently, her spine arching, teeth clenched in silent agony. The carved magic circle beneath her ignited, flaring with blinding black and white energy as it devoured the Origin Crystals even faster, greedier than before.

”What’s going on here?” Nightfire shouted as she was thrown backwards, barely managing to keep her footing against the surging wave of power.

Xara steadied herself, a smirk curled her lips.

”It’s working...”

Her gaze lifted toward the sky above Nyx’s hovering body.

”That bitch actually did it.”

High above, a black-white portal shimmered into existence and the sky darkened rapidly around the mountain.

Clouds churned unnaturally.

The wind screamed, spiraling violently as the portal elongated, tearing itself open inch by inch with an almost audible strain.

Everyone’s faces lit up instantly as hope flared.

The ritual had finally worked. But the feeling did not last.

One by one, expressions faltered.

Something was wrong.

The presence meant for the Eternal Slave had not appeared.

Sandra clenched her fist tightly, ”The energy... It’s not sufficient?”

Xara ground her teeth, eyes locked on the Origin Crystals as they drained violently.

”They’re emptying too fast.”

”What should we do now?” Sera shouted through the raging storm, her clothes snapping wildly as debris lifted around them.

They did not have time to gather more crystals.

And worse than that...

No one knew if the ritual would ever answer again if it failed now.

Thalia clenched her fists and shouted, ”I don’t get it!”

”Why are we doing this inside the barrier? Why not outside? With the abundance of energy out there, this would have worked easily, right?”

Outside, the magic circle could have fed endlessly.

Here, limited by fragile stones.

Nightfire’s eyes widened slowly as Thalia’s words made sense.

Why were they inside the barrier in the first place?

Nyx could handle the outside, couldn’t she?

However,

Selene muttered under her breath, ”If it was just Aether... we would have fucking done it a long time ago.”

Thalia blinked, and then it hit her.

Right... Delphine.

If they had done this outside the barrier... if Delphine truly was with him... then the instant they pulled them back, Delphine would not have survived it.

Burst into pieces before anyone could even react.

”M-My bad...”

Thalia smiled awkwardly.

Nightfire stared at her, utterly stunned, as if the very idea of Delphine had never crossed her mind until now.

”What should we do now?” Sandra shouted.

Everyone clenched their fists.

They already knew.

There was only one option left.

Do it again.

The ritual had failed utterly—

”Just as I thought.”

Everyone flinched at the new voice and looked up at once.

A massive brown dragon hovered in the sky, its wings stretching wide, blotting out what little light remained.

Tttnnnggg~

Origin Crystals.

They poured down in enormous quantities from the dragon’s mouth, glittering as they fell, only to be violently yanked sideways, sucked into the magic circle before they could even touch the ground.

”Is that... Drakhairs?” Thalia muttered, squinting upward in disbelief.

But, The voice they had heard was unmistakably feminine.

THUD!!

Something slammed into the ground with crushing force.

As the dust slowly settled, a familiar figure stepped forward.

Dora smirked, casually brushing dirt from her clothes as if she had not just fallen from the sky.

”Sorry for the delay... It took some time to catch them all.”

They barely had time to respond before a sharp metallic sound echoed behind them.

Clang~

Clang~

Every head snapped toward the magic circle.

Golden and black chains began to materialise from within the carved lines, surged directly from the flood of Origin Crystals.

The chains slithered outward, as if they had been there from the very beginning.

They coiled around Nyx’s body, wrapping her tightly, possessively, like predators ensuring their prey could not escape.

Then, the chains shot upward toward the portal.

The connection...

Finally established.