Lackey's Seducing Survival Odyssey

Chapter 1840: They came seeking Vengeance: Part-2

“Damn it! WHERE IS LILY, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES!!”

He rolled across the floor, his shoulder scraping against the metal as he reached for the Twin Eclipse. His fingers closed around the weapon, and he used the momentum of the roll to spring back onto his feet.

TANG!

He raised the Twin Eclipse just in time.

The Red Commander’s plasma blade crashed against it.

“You shall pay for the sins and lives you took, you ugly monster!”

The impact traveled through Young Aether’s arms and into his shoulders, forcing his boots several centimeters backward.

He gritted his teeth.

The Pink Commander was already aiming. “Let’s hope there is a separate hell for you!!”

PU!

Young Aether released the pressure on his weapon and twisted away.

The beam passed across his side.

PU!

Another followed.

He ducked beneath it.

PU!

A third forced him to leap sideways.

His suit’s thrusters fired in rapid succession, each burst changing his trajectory by only a few degrees, but those tiny corrections were the difference between life and death.

Young Aether’s breathing grew heavier.

RIN was not here.

Without her assistance, his movement was nowhere near as fluid as it had been when he faced the Hunter. He had been able to compensate before, but these two Commanders gave him absolutely no room to breathe.

And there was another problem.

His Step skill still would not activate.

He tried again.

Nothing.

Even his Log was not giving him a response.

“What the hell…?”

He could not waste even a second trying to understand it.

Another crimson blade descended.

TANG!

Young Aether blocked it.

The force of the collision bent his knees.

He immediately rotated his wrists and redirected the weapon, creating a narrow opening.

There!

He saw it.

Young Aether lunged.

The Twin Eclipse swept toward the Red Commander’s torso.

But the Pink Commander instantly moved between them.

PU!

A beam forced Young Aether to break his attack.

He twisted away.

The Red Commander recovered.

The opportunity disappeared.

Young Aether’s eyes hardened.

One opening.

He needed only one.

One mistake from either of them.

One gap in their synchronised assault.

If he found it, he could take them down.

He suddenly pushed forward with everything his suit could give him.

WHOOM!

Both rear thrusters ignited.

Young Aether became a streak of black armour.

The Red Commander stepped forward to intercept.

The Pink Commander moved simultaneously from the opposite side.

Their attacks converged.

BOOM!

The combined impact struck Young Aether from two directions.

His body was thrown backwards.

He spun once in midair before extending his legs, firing his thrusters to stabilize himself.

Too late.

His boots struck the floor.

SKRRRRT!

He slid backwards several meters, sparks spraying from beneath his heels.

Then his back slammed into something solid.

THUD!

The impact rattled his armour.

Young Aether froze.

He slowly turned his head.

A wall.

There was nowhere behind him to move.

He was cornered.

He had allowed them to drive him exactly where they wanted.

“Fuck…”

He had messed up.

The Red Commander stepped forward. “Come on, why don’t you change into the black thing monster? I want to see it!!”

!!!

Young Aether blinked in surprise, ‘Black thing? How did he know that?’ but he didn’t have time to get an answer.

Red Commander’s massive crimson blade hummed as the electromagnetic coils surrounding its edge reached maximum output. Crimson plasma crawled along the weapon’s length, becoming brighter and denser until the blade looked like a concentrated strip of contained destruction.

The Commander tightened both hands around the weapon.

“Because of you, I lost my teammates! YOU FUCKING MONSTER!! DIEEEEEEE!!”

His voice thundered through the chamber.

SSSNNNNNGGG!!!

The crimson blade came down with full force.

The crimson energy along the Red Commander’s blade vibrated violently as he brought it down. The concentrated plasma edge screamed through the air, slicing into the wall beside Young Aether and cutting through the structure as effortlessly as a knife through soft butter.

At the same instant, the Pink Commander raised his hand.

The concentric rings of his circular weapon began rotating at terrifying speed. Their pink glow intensified violently, layer after layer of energy compressing toward the centre until the weapon produced a concentrated beam far denser than any of its previous shots.

The Pink Commander aimed directly at Young Aether’s face.

“THIS IS FOR THE DEATH OF MY TEACHER AND MY GOVERNOR!!! DIE YOU FUCKING FILTHY MONSTER!!”

His voice thundered through the chamber.

Two attacks arrived simultaneously.

Young Aether’s eyes flicked between them. ‘Teacher?’

He had no time to escape both.

His Step skill still refused to activate, leaving him without the burst of acceleration he normally relied upon. He could not dodge the blade and the beam at the same time.

So he had only one choice.

Take one.

Counter the other.

Which one should he take?

The blade?

Obviously.

No. Young Aether chose the beam.

His left arm shot forward.

His armored hand thrust directly between the rotating rings of the circular weapon, grabbing the device at its center just as the concentrated pink energy discharged.

PUUUU!!

The beam erupted.

It struck his hand at point-blank range.

There was no explosion.

No dramatic impact.

His left simply began to melt.

The metal around his fingers liquefied instantly, followed by the synthetic material beneath it.

Due to the closeness, the circular weapon began dissolving as well.

Its advanced components warped and collapsed around Young Aether’s grip, the rotating rings deforming beneath the impossible energy.

The Pink Commander froze.

He had expected Young Aether to dodge.

Not this.

Young Aether gritted his teeth but did not release the weapon.

He pulled it closer.

The beam continued tearing through his hand.

His face remained cold.

Without wasting another second, Young Aether twisted his body backward and swung his leg upward.

THUD!

His boot struck the Red Commander’s weapon with tremendous force.

The crimson blade was knocked off course.

The Red Commander staggered backwards as the momentum of his own attack carried him forward.

SSSNNNNNGGG!

The plasma blade continued downward.

It sliced through the wall behind Young Aether in a perfect sweeping arc.

The structure offered almost no resistance.

A massive section of the wall separated cleanly and collapsed outward, sending chunks of metal and concrete crashing into the exterior.

The Red Commander stared at the destruction for a fraction of a second.

Then a scream tore through the chamber.

“ARRHHH!!”

The Pink Commander stumbled backwards.

His entire left hand had melted away along with the circular weapon.

Flesh and blood dripped from the end of his arm, steaming as it fell to the floor. The remains of the weapon continued to collapse, its once-precise rotating rings now little more than warped fragments of molten metal.

He stared at Young Aether in disbelief.

That monster had deliberately taken the attack.

Not only had he accepted the beam, but he had grabbed the weapon itself and brought it closer to his body.

The Pink Commander’s rage and disbelief collided.

“You…!”

He barely managed to raise his remaining arm.

Thuck!

Something struck his neck.

His body froze.

A wicked, jagged ivory claw had hooked itself around the neck of his mech-suit.

The Pink Commander’s visor flickered.

He tried to react.

Too late.

“ARRRHHH!!” Young Aether pulled.

The mech-suit’s reinforced neck joint tore apart with a violent metallic shriek.

SSSsllllccchhh!!

The Commander’s head was ripped completely from the body.

The severed head, along with the spine, flew sideways while the body remained standing for a moment, its internal systems desperately attempting to compensate for the catastrophic damage.

Blood spilt from the torn neck.

The mech-suit’s visor flickered twice.

Then the entire body collapsed motionlessly.

The Red Commander saw it happen.

His visor widened slightly.

For the first time, genuine horror entered his posture.

“You fucking monsteRRRRRRRRR—!!!”

He lunged.

Young Aether was already kneeling.

His destroyed left arm hung uselessly beside him while his remaining hand gripped the Twin Eclipse.

To the Red Commander, Young Aether looked wounded.

Vulnerable~

The Commander raised his crimson blade and charged.

Chuckkk!

He stopped.

His entire body suddenly jerked.

The Red Commander looked downward.

Something had pierced through his armour.

Several jagged ivory spikes had suddenly erupted from Young Aether’s weapon, penetrating the Commander’s torso without resistance.

His visor flickered violently as the alarm flashed.

[Armour integrity 10%]

“What…?”

The ivory claws extended farther.

Thin cables connecting them to the weapon pulsed with purple energy.

Young Aether slowly raised his head.

His expression was completely emotionless.

Sluck!!

The claws moved.

The Red Commander’s body was torn apart diagonally, the ivory blades cutting through armour, flesh, and internal machinery with the brutal precision of a predator’s talons.

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

Three pieces of the Red Commander’s body struck the floor one after another.

The ivory claws retracted into the weapon, dragging crimson-stained fragments back with them before locking into place.

“…”

Silence returned to the chamber.

Young Aether remained still.

His breathing was heavy.

His destroyed left hand hung uselessly at his side, droplets of melted material still falling from what remained of the armour.

He looked at the two dead Commanders.

“…”

His gaze moved from one body to the other.

“Delta… and Beta.”

He murmured the words quietly.

Something clicked inside his mind.

He looked around the chamber at the other dead mech-suits.

Commander 3 of Delta Division.

The Pink Commander from Beta Division.

The Unit-Class soldiers.

The accusation from the dying mech-suit.

The Pawn Shop owner.

All of them were somehow connected to him.

“They came after me?”

Young Aether’s eyes narrowed.

He slowly looked across the destruction surrounding him.

They had come prepared.

They had known he would be here.

But why?

He had assumed he was not their actual target.

Then why had they suddenly turned their weapons on him?

And why did they know him?

Black Monster?

How did Commander know that?

Young Aether did not have an answer.

Not yet.

He refused to waste another second standing there.

He picked up his Twin Eclipse and secured it against his back, leaving the one in his remaining hand.

Then his gaze dropped toward his left arm.

His left arm simply hung there, utterly useless.

Young Aether stared at it for another moment.

Then he turned away.

Meanwhile, on the corner of the chamber, a camera zoomed over the dead bodies… before looking at Young Aether, who was leaving the chamber.

[Combat Patterns Analysed]

Meanwhile,

With cold eyes, he stepped out of the chamber and immediately returned to the divided pathways where the group had separated earlier.

His pace increased.

He followed the route Allen had taken.

While walking, he kept seeing the child coming in his view again and again… closer and closer everytime.

Young Aether obviously ignored him without any glance, though his heart beat kept increasing.

“Allen, can you hear me?”

He opened a separate communication channel.

Static answered him.

Young Aether frowned.

“Allen?”

Nothing.

He tried again.

No response.

His heart skipped a beat.

He immediately increased his pace.

His metal boots struck the metallic floor faster and faster as he moved through the corridor, the damaged arm swinging uselessly beside him.

When he finally reached the pathway where Allen had gone, Young Aether stopped.

He looked left.

Nothing.

He looked right.

Nothing.

There were no doors.

No side passages.

No signs of Allen.

He continued forward.

The corridor stretched deeper into the structure until he finally reached the end.

Dead end?

Young Aether’s eyes narrowed.

Then he saw it.

A door.

It had been concealed within the darkness of the corridor, its surface almost indistinguishable from the surrounding wall.

And it was already open.

Young Aether tightened his grip around the One of the Twin Eclipse.

He slowed his breathing.

Something about the silence beyond the doorway felt wrong.

He stepped inside.

And… the bright light clouded his vision for a second before his eyes widened.

Jonathan stood several meters ahead.

His gun was raised.

The barrel was pointed directly at Allen’s fallen face, who was crouching in pain.

!!!