Lackey's Seducing Survival Odyssey

Chapter 1427: Yes. It shouldn’t be possible. But...

Back in the Pyra Empire,

Around the capital, people lifted their gazes toward the Palace perched atop the mountain. Dark clouds swirled endlessly around it.

The Supreme General circled high above, while strange, rainbow-hued streaks rained down.

No one understood what they were witnessing.

Even Lyirrs, who had been fully absorbed in forging an artifact within her laboratory, felt it. A sudden tremor rippled through the mountain, sharp enough to rattle tools and fracture her concentration.

She rushed outside, only to freeze in shock as she saw something happening inside the palace.

Meanwhile, in the garden,

”Why is it taking so long?” Thalia shouted. Her eyes flicked toward the unstable portal as it visibly shrank. ”The portal is collapsing right in front of us. We are still pouring Origin Crystals into it, so why is it reacting like this?”

No one answered immediately, because everyone of them wore the same expression.

Xara finally spoke, her brows drawn together, ”Maybe... the problem isn’t here. Maybe it’s on the other side.”

Sandra turned sharply toward her, ”What do you mean by that? Are you saying all of this is for nothing?”

”I’m not completely sure,” Xara replied, ”But think about it. If the other side doesn’t have enough energy left to stabilise the connection, then no matter how much power we pour in from here, the portal will keep rejecting it.”

The moment those words sank in, silence crashed down upon them. Lips parted, breaths stalled, and disbelief washed over every face.

They... they couldn’t understand it anymore.

Where the fuck did he even get caught, and how deep had things gone wrong for it to reach this point?

The portal continued to shrink. Anxiety twisted violently in everyone’s gut. No one knew what to do anymore. Some exchanged desperate glances, thoughts spiraling toward reckless ideas, even considering throwing themselves into the portal before it vanished entirely.

Just when it felt as though hope had finally run dry, when the portal had nearly compressed into a small, unstable sphere,

Ssssnnngggg~

The portal suddenly surged outward, expanding far beyond its previous size with furious intensity.

”What the hell...?” someone muttered, disbelief lacing their voice.

The entire mountain groaned in response, trembling under the sheer force of the sudden expansion.

”What’s going on here?” one of the girls cried out as the violent pressure blasted them backwards, sending them skidding across the ground.

”I don’t know!” Xara shouted in return, teeth clenched as she struggled to keep her footing. Her legs shook violently while the portal continued to expand, the energy roaring louder with each passing second.

Nyx’s hovering body suddenly jerked midair. The chains bound around her hand rattled sharply, vibrating as if they had finally latched onto something real.

One of her eyes flinched violently before turning completely black, deeper than shadow itself, as her existence merged with Aether’s.

Her vision, her senses, her very awareness collapsed into a single point. Thoughts were no longer hers alone. Feelings, pain, and despair flooded through her as she parted her lips,

”DELPHINE!!”

The scream tore free, but the voice that echoed across the garden did not belong to Nyx. It carried Aether’s tone, heavy with agony and longing, as she yanked the golden chain with every ounce of strength left within them.

Clang~

Thud!

Something fell from the portal and slammed into the ground. Every pair of eyes widened in horror as they stared at what lay before them... a shattered, broken body that once, unmistakably, resembled Aether.

But it was not over yet. Nyx raised her other hand, her expression cold and unwavering, as the pasa rope coiled around her palm shot straight toward the closing portal.

For a second... nothing happened. The rope simply disappeared inside the portal, swallowed whole.

Then, without warning, a sharp cracking sound echoed through the space.

Like a splintering root tearing itself apart, fractures spread along the rope, crawling outward from the portal toward Nyx’s hand. The cracking grew louder, more violent, yet despite the damage, the rope remained stubbornly intact.

The portal shrank further, reducing itself to little more than a violently shaking sphere.

Nyx gritted her teeth and yanked the rope with all her strength.

”Come!”

The rope snapped taut, and another figure was dragged violently out of the portal. In the very next second, the portal collapsed in on itself and shut down completely, as if it had never existed.

Thud!

Thud!

Two heavy impacts struck the ground one after the other. Everyone snapped out of their shock and rushed forward at once.

From the palace gate, Lyirrs peeked out cautiously. Her eyes widened as she saw the group of women shouting and crying, voices overlapping in raw emotion, before they hurriedly carried three unconscious figures into the palace halls.

Her head tilted slightly as her gaze lingered on Nyx, then shifted to a woman she did not recognise, and finally settled on the last figure.

”Is that... Aether?” Lyirrs muttered, her eyebrows lifting in visible shock as she took in his condition.

His body looked unnaturally dried, skin stretched tight against bone, with a missing arm.

As the chaos finally settled, the sky above returned to its normal hue.

Thud!

Drakhairs landed heavily on the ground nearby. He straightened as he walked toward his daughter, a massive bag slung over his shoulder.

”What’s going on, father?” Lyirrs asked.

Drakhairs shook his head slowly. ”I am not sure, dear. But it seems our e-ahem... Mr. Aether managed to stumble into something far beyond what we ever imagined.”

Lyirrs hummed softly, her thoughtful gaze deepening as she processed his words. ”Should we help them?”

Drakhairs paused, then shook his head again. ”Let’s wait...”

Lyirrs nodded, though the curiosity burning in her eyes only grew stronger.

Meanwhile, the ladies carefully laid Aether, Delphine, and Nyx onto separate beds.

Sera and Helena immediately began their healing process, hands glowing as energy flowed steadily into the broken bodies before them by using Origin Crystals.

The moment Xara truly looked at Aether, her breath caught painfully in her throat. His body resembled that of a dried corpse, devoid of fat or muscle, skin clinging unnaturally to bone. Delphine looked no better.

It was as if both of them had been starved for years, denied even water!

”W-What happened to them?” Xara whispered, her eyes trembling as she stared at Delphine and Aether. Fear twisted in her chest as she tried to imagine what kind of hell they must have endured to end up like this.

Sandra stood nearby, her expression cold and focused as she watched Sera’s healing closely. Then she noticed something subtle, something deeply wrong. Her brows knit together as her gaze sharpened.

”Except Sera, Helena, Dora, and Xara... everyone else, get out,” Sandra said coldly.

Aqualina froze, tears welling up in her eyes as she turned toward Sandra. ”B-But Mom—”

”I said get the fuck out of here,” Sandra snapped. Her eyes glowed with an eerie light that made everyone shudder for a brief second. No one dared argue. One by one, they nodded stiffly and left the room, lips trembling as they bit down hard, frustration and fear etched clearly across their faces.

Raven carefully lifted Nyx’s unconscious body into her arms and carried her to her room. Nyx remained completely unresponsive, her breathing shallow but steady. Nightfire followed closely, her expression tight with worry as she gently warped the splintered pasa rope back onto Nyx’s hand, handling it with care, as if afraid it might break her further.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the room,

”Why isn’t his arm healing?” Sandra asked coldly. Her gaze was fixed on Sera, who was pouring everything she had into restoring Aether’s body.

Sera gritted her teeth, sweat beading along her brow as she forced more power through the Origin Crystals. Light surged around Aether’s severed arm, but no matter how much energy she fed into it, the missing limb refused to return.

”Helena!” Sera called out, her voice strained.

Helena looked up from Delphine, whose legs were deeply gouged, as if something with sharp claws had raked through her calves repeatedly. Without hesitation, Helena moved beside Sera, and the two of them worked together, combining their strength, their magic, and their will.

Still, nothing changed.

The wound refused to close.

Helena’s eyes trembled as tears welled up, her breathing growing uneven as she pushed herself harder and harder. Yet no matter what she did, Aether’s left arm below the elbow did not regenerate. Not even a flicker of progress showed.

”Focus on Delphine,” Xara said quietly, her voice steady despite the storm in her chest. Her eyes remained locked on Aether’s arm as Dora, who had been examining Delphine’s body, slowly turned her attention toward him as well.

Dora leaned closer. Xara followed her gaze, and both of them noticed something deeply unsettling. The cut was clean.

Too clean!

Veins and muscles beneath the surface were still spasming and moving, functioning as if nothing had gone wrong.

And even more disturbing,

”The blood isn’t coming out,” Xara muttered, disbelief slipping into her tone.

Dora narrowed her eyes. ”More like... the blood is still flowing.”

Xara turned toward her, stunned. Dora hummed softly, ”That’s impossible, isn’t it?”

Xara nodded slowly. ”Yes. It shouldn’t be possible. But...”

Sandra’s frown deepened. ”Explain. What is going on?”

Xara swallowed hard before answering, ”His severed hand... It’s still connected to his arm.”

”...What?”

****

Meanwhile, back in the Eternal Prison,

Darkness ruled absolutely within the Eternal Prison, a place where hideous things slithered and drifted through the void without making a sound.

Somewhere deep within that darkness, in a place where not even the faintest light was meant to survive, a tiny yellow flame hovered in the air.

It was minute, fragile, barely more than a spark. Yet it did not flicker. It did not move. It simply existed, suspended unnaturally, as if life itself had forgotten how to reach it.

....h.

...h..

..h...

h....!

Something within the darkness began to take shape near the tiny yellow flame. Then, without warning, the lifeless flame twitched, reacting as though it had sensed a presence.

A low, grotesque gurgling sound rolled through the Eternal Prison, thick and wet, reverberating endlessly through the darkness.

Chugrrrfggrr!

Thucck!

Something slammed into the unseen surface near the flame with a sickening impact.

It was a hand.

Aether’s severed hand lay there, slick with saliva, fingers twitching violently. The joints flexed and curled on their own, tendons tightening and releasing as if obeying commands from a distant will.

H....!!

.h....

...h.

.....

The tiny yellow flame suddenly rose higher, lifting itself with deliberate motion. Aether’s hand followed, dragged along as though tethered by something unseen. With every movement, the flame flared brighter, its glow pulsing ominously, casting warped shadows that hinted at something massive shifting just beyond sight.

Something was moving.

Something vast.

Something ancient.

Then, abruptly, the hand slipped free.

Thud.

No.

Not stone.

Not ground.

The sound was hollow.

Wet.

Contained.

The tiny flame brightened just enough to reveal what lay beneath it. A humongous transparent jar loomed out of the darkness, its surface etched with cracks and stains older than time itself.

Inside, piled without order or mercy, were thousands of severed heads.

Aether’s heads.

From fresh and new Aether to... slowly changing... horrified, dried pale Aether’s heads.

Thousands of them.

All identical.

YOUR POV:

As your vision lingered on the jar, on the countless faces staring back in endless repetition, the tiny flame suddenly sparked violently.

Crrr!

The surface bulged.

Split.

Something forced itself out.

A humongous eyeball behind the transparent jar.

A massive, lava-cracked eyeball emerged, glowing veins pulsing beneath a hardened crust. Molten light dripped from its surface as it rolled slowly, deliberately, across the fractured plane.

It stopped near the jar, turning with unsettling awareness, examining the countless heads one by one.

Watching.

Judging.

Then a voice echoed through the Eternal Prison, broken and distorted, layered with hunger and curiosity far beyond mortal comprehension.

”Arrr... brreekk...? Ennrtttrrrgggkgg.” == ”A bug...? intriguing!”