Lackey's Seducing Survival Odyssey

Chapter 1788: Activating the Final… Part-2

Ba-DUMP!

Ba-DUMP!!

Ba-DUMP!!!

The colourful metal rose and expanded like living flesh, while adjacent to it, a rainbow-coloured crystal compressed and contracted with the same organic rhythm.

Metal and crystal, two impossible materials, beat together in perfect harmony.

It was a heart.

Although it possessed the shape of a human heart, nothing else about it was human. It lacked flesh, yet moved as though it had muscles beneath its gleaming surface. The colossal metal-crystal heart was nearly the size of a small house, each thunderous beat sending subtle vibrations through the cavern around it.

Its pulse echoed throughout the vast chamber, rebounding from the damp stone walls. Water droplets trembled before falling from the ceiling, scattering ripples across shallow pools as the heartbeat continued without pause.

Standing before it was… Prophetess.

She gazed silently at the enormous heart before her, her eyes eventually settling upon the massive ebon stone driven straight through its centre. Time had buried the stone beneath thick layers of dust, concealing the ancient inscriptions carved across its surface.

A trace of sorrow flickered across her face.

*I… I never realised you were carrying this much pain, Sister…*

Her voice was gentle, almost apologetic, as though witnessing a suffering she had never imagined.

She slowly approached.

The rainbow crystal side of the heart glowed with soft, shifting colours, painting the dark cavern in waves of crimson, emerald, sapphire, and gold. Their light reflected across the polished other side of the heart, making every pulse shimmer with iridescent brilliance.

As she drew nearer, she noticed several Mother roots wrapped delicately around the tip of the aorta. They looked fragile, yet each pulse caused them to tighten ever so slightly, as though desperately refusing to let go.

Prophetess raised a trembling hand.

Her fingertips brushed against the metallic surface.

Instead of cold steel, her palm sank ever so slightly into it.

Warm and Soft.

Alive?

“It… Really… Alive?”

A slow, feminine voice echoed from deep within the enormous heart.

The prophetess let out a soft giggle.

*It is. Did you truly believe I would lie to you?*

“…”

Her lips curled with amused disbelief.

*Hey… that’s rather mean, you know. What’s that silence supposed to mean? You’re making me question my own credibility.*

She sighed dramatically before smiling.

*To be fair, among all our brothers and sisters, you were always the one who understood me the least. I could speak for hours, and somehow you’d still miss the point.*

“You… Talk… Annoying.”

*…*

Prophetess closed her eyes for a brief moment before shaking her head with a helpless smile.

*Even after everything… You really haven’t changed. You’re still just as childish as ever.*

Her gaze drifted toward the ancient heart.

*Strange, isn’t it? Time itself disappeared, yet somehow none of us truly changed…*

A faint chuckle escaped her lips.

*Just like Alucard Xal’thren.*

“Blood… Sucker… Here?!”

*He was…*

She hesitated.

*The others cast him out because of what happened…*

A quiet sigh escaped her.

*Tsk… there’s little point speaking of him now. He’s gone.*

“Dead?… Who?”

*Sister Grace sent one of her pawns after him.*

Her voice became noticeably quieter.

*She killed him… and shattered his soul. There won’t be another chance for him to return.*

“Good!… He… Prick!”

Prophetess’s lips twitched.

She rubbed her forehead before looking at the heart with the expression of an exhausted elder sister.

*You really shouldn’t insult your own brother.*

She paused for a moment before adding with complete seriousness,

*Even if he was a complete dickhead wanker… you absolutely shouldn’t say things like that.*

Her perfectly straight face somehow made the contradiction even more ridiculous.

“…”

*…*

“Old… Hag?”

This time, Prophetess’s smile froze.

The corner of her mouth twitched once.

Then again.

Several more times.

She took a long, painfully controlled breath.

*…I know you’re wondering why I’m leaning on a staff and walking like an old woman…*

Another twitch.

*But could you… please refrain from calling me an old hag? At least pretend to respect your elders.*

“…”

She let out a weary sigh before resting both hands atop her staff.

*There are… reasons.*

Prophetess looked away for a brief moment, as though she had no desire to continue that part of the conversation.

*Also… you should call him “he” Not “It”. After all, he is your nephew, not some calamity everyone fears… He’s just a normal boy.*

She muttered the last few words before silently adding to herself,

*’…Well, an ordinary boy before everything happened. Right now… he’s a monster. But anyway.’*

“…”

Sensing the sudden silence from the heart, Prophetess glanced back at it before a faint smile appeared on her lips.

*And he’s the most handsome man you’ll ever see in your life. Even the most beautiful women would lose their charm standing beside him.*

“??!!!”

Her amused smile widened.

*Want to see him?*

“… Can. I?”

*You can…*

Her voice softened.

*…but not right now.*

The warmth in her expression gradually disappeared, replaced by solemn resolve.

*So… Aevum. Will you join us?*

“Allowed…. You.”

The answer was simple.

It meant she had given Prophetess permission to enter because she agreed.

However, Prophetess slowly shook her head.

*No… say it properly.*

Her eyes remained fixed on the heart.

*Say that you will support the Cursed Child.*

“… Have. To?”

*Yes. You have to. No questions asked.*

She slowly removed her thick white gloves.

Her bare hand came into view.

The skin was mottled with sickly brown patches, while ruptured flesh leaked dark pus from festering wounds. Every finger looked unnaturally thin, the flesh clinging tightly against the bones until even the contours of her wrist were painfully visible.

Without the slightest hesitation, she drew the sharpened edge of her staff across her palm.

Clck~

A deep cut opened.

Thick black blood oozed from the wound.

Yet it wasn’t merely blood.

Within the dark liquid, tiny shapes writhed endlessly. They were impossibly small, almost invisible to the naked eye. If one were to look closely enough, countless minuscule organisms could be seen swimming through the blood, twisting and wriggling like parasites born from a nightmare.

Prophetess raised her gaze toward the colossal heart.

The rainbow crystal’s overwhelming radiance prevented her from seeing what lay within, yet beyond that blinding light, she could still make out the faint outline of… someone.

Her voice became unusually quiet.

*Aevum?*

Silence lingered.

Then, one final time…

The slow voice echoed from deep within the heart.

“I. Support. Cursed. Child.”

The instant those words faded…

Prophetess gently pressed her bleeding palm against the metal-crystal heart.

A single drop of black blood landed upon its surface.

The entire cavern violently trembled.

Sssshhh~

An invisible wave swept through the chamber without warning.

Her robes fluttered wildly as rainbow light erupted from the crystal half of the heart. The heartbeat accelerated with terrifying speed, each pulse louder than the last, shaking the cavern as though the colossal organ were on the verge of bursting apart.

Ba-DUMP!

Ba-DUMP!!

Ba-DUMP!!!

Ba-DUMP!!!!

Ba-DUMP!!!!!!

THUD!

The massive ebon stone embedded through the heart trembled for the first time in countless ages.

Dust slid from its ancient surface in slow streams, revealing weathered inscriptions that had remained hidden since ancient times.

Ancient words… were finally becoming visible.

And then…

TTTTTTTTRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!

A colossal vibration erupted throughout the Empire.

The massive ebon stone rotated along its axis with a deafening groan. The heart that had been nailed to it was slowly released, as though the ancient seal itself was finally giving way. The colossal heart swelled like a living creature taking its first breath, its rhythm accelerating with every passing second as the rainbow light grew brighter and brighter.

“ARRGHHH!!”

Prophetess screamed.

The moment her blood touched the heart, her palm was stripped down to bone.

It wasn’t burning.

It wasn’t dissolving.

Reality itself was unravelling her.

Her skin peeled away into countless particles. Flesh tore apart strand by strand. Blood scattered into shimmering fragments, while muscles and fibres splintered as though existence itself had rejected them. The disintegration spread violently from her hand, consuming the rest of her body without mercy.

SNNNNGGGG!!

Countless ancient words and glowing symbols suddenly emerged across the surface of the heart.

They flickered violently.

Frantically.

As though they were desperately trying to contain whatever lay imprisoned within.

The ebon stone continued rotating, slowly unscrewing itself from the heart it had sealed for countless ages.

The light intensified.

Brighter.

Brighter.

Brighter.

Prophetess’s robes fluttered violently before their threads unravelled into tiny specks of light. Beginning with her ruined hand, her clothes and body gradually faded into nothingness, erased particle by particle.

Ba-DUMP!

Ba-DUMP!!

Ba-DUMP!!!

Ba-DUMP!!!!

The heart pounded faster and faster.

Her body continued to disintegrate. Even her bones crumbled into dust, carried away by the overwhelming radiance until the cavern became nothing but blinding white.

The colossal heart bulged.

And bulged.

And bulged.

Until it filled almost the entire cavern.

Its impossible size forced Prophetess backwards despite the fact that she was already disappearing. Her body was torn apart piece by piece, every nerve still conscious, every second of agony stretching endlessly as the expanding heart drew closer and closer.

And then…

Thud!

Only her staff struck the rocky ground.

Beside it landed several tiny wriggling creatures.

For the briefest instant they struggled…

Before they too dissolved into particles, as though they had never been permitted to exist.

CRACK!!

The cavern walls fractured beneath the overwhelming pressure.

The ocean rushed inside with catastrophic force, millions of tonnes of seawater crashing through the widening fissures before the entire cavern collapsed as though it had been made of glass.

SSSHHHNNNNNNNNNGGGG!!!

The rainbow light intensified once more.

The heart reached its absolute limit, swelling like a balloon moments away from bursting.

Then…

A childish, feminine voice echoed from within.

“Finally… I’m free~”

BBBBOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!

The heart exploded.

A colossal rainbow shockwave erupted beneath the ocean, racing outward in every direction. Gigantic tsunamis surged toward distant shores, while the entire Empire felt the subtle tremor beneath its feet, as though the world itself had shivered.

But it didn’t stop there.

The Mother Root connected to the heart suddenly jerked.

A tremendous pulse of energy surged into its vast network, racing through the enormous roots buried beneath the world.

Like light travelling through an optical fibre.

The brilliant ring of energy shot through the Mother Root at a speed beyond calculation, expanding as it travelled across roots that stretched through both space and time.

The roots became perfect conductors for electrons to pass through the conductive wire.

But this was something far older… something that never meant to be understood!

SSs~

One ring passed.

SSs~

Then another.

Until exactly 12 luminous rings surged through the Mother Root before reaching every distant branch connected to it.

Across the world…

The other Empires felt it.

Their skies flickered between brilliant daylight and unnatural darkness, over and over, as though reality itself was struggling to recalibrate.

The twelve rings pulsed back and forth through the colossal roots, sending subtle waves across every Empire they touched.

Then…

Click.

Something deep within the world shifted.

Something ancient…Locked into place.

Then…

Silence.

The violent tremors ceased. The roaring oceans calmed. The skies stopped flickering, and the Mother Root grew still once more, as though the world itself had taken a single, quiet breath.

Deep beneath the ocean, where no light could reach, the colossal Ebon Stone continued its slow rotation.

It resembled a giant screw that was unscrewing itself. Still, instead of a thread, countless Mother Roots had coiled tightly around its spiralling grooves, wrapping around it like living threads as it steadily unscrewed itself.

Thousands upon thousands of years of dust continued to crumble from its weathered surface.

One fragment after another.

Until the final layer finally fell away.

The ancient inscription that had remained hidden for countless ages was revealed in its entirety.

Upon the Ebon Stone, etched in forbidden language itself, were the words:

“The Blood of an Ether”