Lackey's Seducing Survival Odyssey

Chapter 1548: ... Until war reminds it how fragile joy is: Part-2

Selene, Raven, Thalia, Emberlyn, Nyx, and Nightfire stepped into the laboratory after Selene told them the suitation and Aether would be busy for the time being.

Nightfire trailed behind them, dressed in soft night pyjamas, her hair dishevelled, eyes half closed with sleep still clinging to her lashes. She rubbed one eye and yawned without shame.

”Why am I getting dragged here at this ungodly hour... yaaawnn... If this is not the apocalypse, I am going back to bed,” she muttered, her voice raspy with exhaustion as the heavy doors sealed shut behind them.

Emberlyn froze the moment her foot in. A tremor climbed up her spine, not from cold but from instinct. Something primal inside her recoiled.

”I... I will wait outside,” she whispered, already taking a step back.

Thalia caught her wrist before she could retreat, ”Come on, Mom. There is nothing here that can hurt you.”

She tugged her forward.

And then Emberlyn saw it.

A headless body lay slumped over a blood pool.

”HIKK!!!”

Emberlyn stumbled backwards in blind panic. Her back struck a tall glass containment. She turned, breath hitching in her throat, only to find herself staring into something far worse.

Inside the glass container floated a severed head. The skull had been opened with surgical precision, metallic rods and crystalline needles embedded into exposed neural tissue.

”Oh Dragon Emperor...”

Her knees nearly gave out, but Raven caught her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

”Mom? Where are you?” Selene shouted.

”I am here, sweetie.”

The voice drifted out smoothly from another room inside the laboratory.

Nightfire straightened slightly and smirked, her sleepy eyes gaining a spark of mischief. ”Sweetie? Hah. I did not know we were doing pet names in a blood-soaked laboratory. Should I start calling people honey while standing next to fucked up corpses?”

She winked at Selene, who flushed and scoffed before walking toward the inner room with brisk steps.

The group followed.

Xara stood beside the table that had the metallic figure. She glanced up as they entered.

”Where is Aether?”

Selene folded her hands before her, ”He is occupied with official engagements in the Aurora Empire. He will arrive once he is finished.”

Xara clicked her tongue softly.

”Anyway,” Xara continued, ”You understand this language, correct?”

She pointed toward the console where the sound comes.

[!@!!#$ !@$##%%]

Selene stepped closer, brows knitting together. She closed her eyes briefly, focusing not just on the words but the rhythm behind them.

[!@!!#$ !@$##%%@#!!@@@@#@]

”They are speaking too fast,” she murmured.

[!@#$#$$$!!!]

A louder burst erupted from the console.

”Announcement?” Selene captured that word; she frowned as she informed everyone, ”I think... I think they are trying to address us.”

Thalia crossed her arms, gaze locked onto the oscillating lines on the display. ”I have questions—many of them. But the first... Can we talk to them?”

Lyirrs moved silently toward the metallic figure. She adjusted crystalline connectors embedded along its spine, reattaching energy threads. Sparks of pale violet light flickered each time a connection locked into place.

She rerouted several wires, flipped switches along the console, and inserted a prism-shaped crystal into a slot at the centre.

The crystal glowed faintly, amplifying the outgoing energy.

Everyone waited calmly while Lyirrs did her job.

Selene pressed her fingers against her temple. ”I... I think... they are speaking to each other now.... I am not fluent enough to process this.”

She hesitated before adding, ”Should I contact Aria?”

Xara’s gaze hardened. ”What the... You all knew this language could determine your survival, and none of you mastered it yet?”

Selene and others felt offended!

Nyx stepped forward, ”We tried to learn, but we just couldn’t understand faster, and it’s harder to learn”

Thalia clenched her fist. ”I would rather break their teeth!”

Nightfire, who had quietly wandered to the metallic table, rested her cheek against the cool surface and sighed dramatically. ”Wake me up when we reach the part where we conquer them or explode. Preferably not explode... I just washed my hair.”

Emberlyn managed a weak, embarrassed smile before lowering her gaze again.

Xara rubbed her forehead slowly, then looked at Selene, whose lips were slightly pouted in frustration.

Lyirrs lifted the prism crystal from its dock and held it out.

”You can speak now,” she said quietly.

Xara stepped forward as she leaned toward the crystal.

”Who are you?”

It took a few 10s of seconds before the answer came,

[@#@???]

Selene listened intently, her eyes widening slightly. ”They seemed to be surprised... they said, ”These can talk to us!””

Xara’s eyes narrowed, ”Of course I can speak. I am not a monster.”

It took another few 10s of seconds before the answer came,

[!@!3!@!@ @@#%# @#!@#$#]

Selene tried to follow, but her expression tightened in frustration. ”I am sorry... they were too fast”

Xara drew a slow breath,

”Can you speak slower? We are unable to understand yours.”

[@#@#$@# @#!@$ #@#%# @#$@##]

Xara sighed and thought, ’Looks like Aether is our only option...’

She turned slightly toward the others, ”At least we made contact, right? That is a significant step forwar—”

Before she could finish, the speakers crackled violently.

[!@!@#@ar me?]

Every head snapped toward the console.

The syllables had shifted!

”Is that... our language?” Emberlyn whispered.

Xara’s eyes sharpened. She looked toward Lyirrs, who was already adjusting the resonance dials, fingers moving with precise urgency.

Lyirrs increased the amplification. The crystal brightened.

[C@# yo@@ hear me?]

[Can you hear me?]

A collective chill swept through the chamber.

They were speaking back... In their own language?

What the fuck!

Xara stepped forward again, ”Yes, I can.”

”...”

For a minute, there was no answer... Everyone wondered if it was just their mind playing games, and it was totally false when,

[Good. Am I speaking to the Ruler or Representative of your world?]

The tone held no gender, no warmth, no fluctuation... Just an emotionless robotic voice.

Xara glanced sideways at Raven. Raven folded her arms and gave a small, calm nod.

Xara faced the crystal again.

”Yes. I am the Representative of my world. Identify yourself.”

Another pause... Longer this time.

Then the voice spoke again.

[Good. As per Arcane’s Order, we have given you sufficient time to prepare. As per Arcane’s Order, we arrive to present two options.

Live under our banners... or Die beneath your own soil.]

A suffocating heaviness filled the chamber.

Nyx’s jaw tightened. Emberlyn’s fingers curled into the fabric of her dress. Raven’s expression hardened into something colder than steel.

Xara’s frown deepened. She opened her mouth to respond.

But Thalia stepped forward first.

”You arrogant pieces of shit,” she snapped, ”Who granted you the authority to offer us options? Live under your banner? As what, servants? Slaves? You expect us to kneel because you learned our language?

We would rather burn our own skies than bow to yo—”

”Thalia!”

Xara shouted.

Thalia turned on her, ”Why are you stopping me? Am I wrong? They threaten lick their foot or kill us, and we are supposed to answer politely?”

Xara seized her arm, ”This is not about pride. It is about survival, and just calm down... It’s a delicate matter—”

[What is your answer, Plagues?]

Plagues?

Those words felt like someone talking to them directly looking down at them!

Veins rose along Thalia’s forehead. ”You fu—mfff!”

Raven moved instantly, wrapping an arm around her sister’s shoulders and pulling her back. ”Enough,” Raven said quietly.

Xara closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them, her expression had transformed into something diplomatic, almost serene.

She stepped closer to the crystal once more.

”Unfortunately, we cannot accept your terms,” she said evenly. ”However, we are open to negotiation—”

Yet,

[By Order of Arcane, an ultimatum was granted. You have refused to answer. Therefore, we, Gaius Terravita, commence the War of Reclamation.]

Thud.

A subtle vibration rippled through the floor beneath their feet.

Xara’s composure cracked for the first time. She stepped forward urgently, hand reaching toward the crystal,

”Wait! We can discuss this—”

[Our world will return to its rightful heirs.]

The crystal went dark.

The signal vanished.

Silence swallowed the room.

Everyone stared at the now lifeless screen.

Then.

THUD!

This time, the vibration was stronger. The metallic framework of the lab groaned faintly in response.

Thud.

”Ouch!”

Nightfire tumbled off the edge of the metallic table.

”Something is happening outside,” Thalia said sharply, already sprinting toward the exit.

The rest followed without hesitation.

They rushed through the corridors... The palace trembled again, dust drifting from the high ceilings like falling ash.

When they burst onto the palace rooftop...

Puuuueeeee~

A blinding blue radiance tore across the sky, forcing them to shield their eyes.

Before they could fully comprehend what they were seeing, a massive explosion ruptured above them.

BOOOMMM!

A scorching orange flame intercepted a descending beam of concentrated blue energy, the collision erupting into a violent shockwave that swept across the palace roof.

Lyirrs staggered, squeezing her eyes shut against the flare. When she forced them open again, she looked upward.

A massive draconic silhouette hovered above the palace, wings spread wide like a living shield. Flames coiled around his body, scales reflecting both infernal orange and the cold blue of the enemy assault.

”Father?!”

Drakhairs roared, his voice amplified by both lungs and fury,

”Invaders! All forces mobilise! Defend the Empire!”

Selene and others stepped forward slowly, her breath catching in her throat.

The sky was no longer sky....

It was filled with colossal structures hovering in formation. Metallic constructs of grotesque, alien geometry drifted above the clouds, their surfaces etched with shifting sigils. Blue energy cannons glowed along their undersides, discharging concentrated beams that lanced toward the ground below.

Each strike erupted in violent bursts of light and debris, and entire sections of the city below were swallowed in flashes of destruction.

Between the warships descended grotesque metallic figures, humanoid in shape but elongated, segmented, their limbs unfolding mechanically as they dropped toward the battlefield. They moved with unnatural precision, ascending and descending through the air with controlled bursts of blue propulsion.

”What in the heavens... is happening?” Emberlyn whispered in horror.