Lackey's Seducing Survival Odyssey

Chapter 1295: Empires Falling Apart: Part-2

They say everyone was equal... Everyone was supposed to be equal, no discrimination with anyone... but deep down, we all knew the truth, a truth that gnawed at the marrow of our bones.

We were definitely not equal!

When a worker saw the Manager, their shoulders hunched, their lips sealed. They bowed their head... We were not equal!

When the Manager saw the Director, their pride melted into an obedient dog. They bowed their head... We were not equal!

When the Director saw the President, confidence dissolved into hesitation and fear. They bowed their head... We were not equal!

When the President saw the CEO, their spine bent under invisible pressure. They bowed their head... We were not equal!

And when the CEO saw... the Money, their knees weakened, they knelt and their head bowed without a single resistance... We were equal...

Yet we were not!!

This was etched into everyone’s bones and bodies like a curse carved by unseen hands... the endless comparisons, the silent branding of lower status, the humiliation of being looked down upon.

Even if we told ourselves it was for money, or fame, or glory, or survival... deep inside we knew... There would always be one above us.

And that was why we never, ever... could not be equal!!

No amount of words... no amount of cries... no amount of pain could erase it.

The truth was simple, merciless, undeniable... accept it... We were not equal!!

And that’s where frustration was born, where fear curled, where anger seethed, where disappointment bled into the blood and body.... It crawled into every heart, hollowing it, gnawing it, filling it with bitterness.

Everything pent up and... up and.... up, a storm caged too long, waiting for a single opportunity!

An opportunity to rise, to scream, to tear the veil apart.

An opportunity to show... Were we equal?

No.

It was not to prove equality.

It was to strike back, to shove down those who had looked down at us, to drag them into our pit so that we could watch them flounder where we once stood. And in that sight... we could laugh.

Happy!

Satisfied!!

And most of all... We were not equal!!

In that moment, it felt intoxicating—haughty, prideful, venomous... and yet it gleamed like stolen happiness.

A fleeting moment where the chain was reversed, where the shadowed became the towering.

Where the lie of equality was ripped open, revealing the madness beneath.

.... There was nothing wrong with that. After all, that’s how we were made... how we were born... how we saw everything.

There was nothing wrong in it... that’s what was happening to the Empires.

Those who saw the opportunity to rise... they would seize it without hesitation.

Because now, everyone had suddenly become equal!

Especially the Blank Arcane Card holders... those who had once been looked down upon, discarded, treated as if they were not even living beings.

Those very same outcasts, who honed their skills instead of relying on powers... would now stand face to face with the people who proudly called themselves Copper, Silver, and even Golden Arcane Card holders.

Just like them, Copper would always look up to Silver, and Silver would always look up to Golden... the low would always raise their eyes to the high. After all...

We were not equal, right?

So that’s what was happening everywhere...

In the Naiadae Empire, however, the situation was not escalating like in the others. The people there had already witnessed their Ruler’s ruthless acts, and they understood well how their Empress would treat them if they dared disobey.

So the majority chose silence... They kept their heads lowered. They were not exactly loyal to her, nor did they feel betrayed by her rule. Even though she had seized the throne by killing her own family, she still did everything in her power to keep the Empire together.

There was no partiality in her eyes. Everyone was equal... equal in death.

If a nobleman took money, or if a commoner took money—it mattered not. She would kill them both without hesitation. No difference, no mercy.

As long as her daughter was not harmed, she would not act against anyone.

But the moment that line was crossed...

Like a mirror, she reflected what was given... Show her anger, and she would show you fury.

Offer her loyalty, and she would mirror it back with cold protection.

And the greatest, most terrifying truth was this...

She was a Blank Card holder!

That one fact alone made every soul tremble in awe and respect. A Blank Card holder, someone who should have been powerless, managed to claw her way to strength equal to a Golden Card holder.

She was the idol of the weak, the symbol of the discarded, a living legend!!

So many chose silence, continuing their work, avoiding her gaze. But the same could not be said for the nobles whose pride and privileges were shattered under her reign.

She had treated them equally. And that... that was the wound that cut deepest.

They were hurt, insulted, furious—because in her eyes, they were no better than trash.

Yes. Noble or commoner... to her, everyone was trash!!

She would kill a noble man or woman before a peasant, and she would kill a peasant before a noble family.

It was not order, not rank—it was chaos. Her eyes never once measured worth.

Because in her gaze... worth did not exist.

And so, many nobles seethed. In fact, Velc himself hungered for revenge, his pride torn apart. He began gathering others, grouping with noble houses, all for one purpose—

To strike back against that woman who dared look down on him.

That woman who dared treat him... like trash.

No man would ever digest it... especially coming from a woman who was supposed to be weak and pathetic blind!!

Yet... yet... Velc hesitated. Something inside whispered that if he made any move, he would not live to see another sunrise.

It was not mere intuition. Rather... it was a feeling—an icy, crawling chill. After all, he had once seen that same weak, emotionless, egoless boy transform into a danger so immense he could never have imagined it.

”Also... if I do something wrong, it will defame my son, the Arcane King,” Velc muttered, staring at the window with a confused tone.

Behind him, Timmy nodded with a serious face.

”Where is my son right now?” Velc asked.

Timmy’s cheeks flushed, and he stammered, ”H-He’s busy with the mistress...”

Velc exhaled sharply and sighed. ”What’s wrong with this boy... sure, she’s beautiful and all, but doing this all day while hell is breaking loose?” He shook his head in disappointment... and wondered why his son was doing it all day without drying off.

Timmy, still blushing heavily as though uttering something ridiculous, added, ”Also... Leon and... Finnian are with them too.”

Velc coughed blood, clutching his chest. ”Arrh!” He felt a deep, piercing pain spread through his ribs.

Even though his son had already been informed about the situation, when Selene and Aqualina appeared here and stirred up everything.

Velc didn’t like it one bit. He had even punished his son, even though he had done everything to try and change his boy’s mind—offering him ten prostitutes to tempt him away from this path.

Yet... yet...

”T-That... that fucking witch!! What kind of magic has she done to my son!!!” Velc gritted his teeth, clutching his chest tighter. It looked as though he would die sooner or later—at the hands of his own son.

Meanwhile, Sandra stood over the balcony, arms folded across her chest, her expression calm and unshaken as she gazed outward... at the private armies of the nobles approaching her stronghold.

Aqualina stood at her side, brows drawn into a deep frown. ”Mom... looks like they’ve been preparing for this,” she muttered, eyes scanning the sheer number of soldiers gathering below.

Celestia sat perched on the edge of the leaning wall, legs dangling softly into the air as she murmured under her breath, ”Hmm... just as I expected... Naiad Territory, Merrow Territory, Lamia Territory— they’ve all gotten involved in this too...”

Sandra’s fingers curled slightly against the stone before she smirked. ”They made a mistake,” she said softly, shaking her head in quiet disappointment.

Meanwhile, in the Aurora Empire...

These people were not dangerous like the others. They were softer, lovelier, always forgiving.

Except now, whispers drifted like prayers turned to ash:

”God abandoned us...”

”Mother disappointed in us?”

”Was there a reason to live anymore?”

”Mother hates us now?”

Yup... they had a cult problem festering within them.

These people were not worried about powers, ranks, hatred, obedience, or anything of that sort. Sure, there would be a few among them... but that was rare. Sometimes, even impossible.

Except now—now they were disappointed. Now they were worried about their very lives. They felt abandoned.

They felt destroyed.

They felt utterly lost.

They felt... their faith was gone.

Their god was gone!

Their love had disappeared!

Their very meaning of life had vanished!!

What was left to live for?

To keep seeing these horrors?

They... they never thought death could be the answer to anything. But now... now, they were beginning to feel it.

Their mother—their goddess—wanted nothing more than the death of her children.

”I-If that’s what you want... I gladly give it to you! May you embrace me and guide me in the afterlife~” a woman cried, collapsing to her knees.

Her hands clapped together in trembling devotion before she reached down, grasping a knife from the ground. Her arm shook violently as she raised it upward, preparing to slit her throat, to offer her soul, to bring back their abandoned mother... to save them all.

But a white serpent shot forward like lightning, coiling around her wrist and yanking the blade away.

”Hissss~!” Snowflake hissed furiously, fangs flashing.

”All of you, stop it now!!” Helena’s voice thundered as she landed heavily on the ground. Her furious eyes blazed over the crowd.

For it was not just one girl... there were many... Dozens! All ready to follow her into death.

Helena clenched her fists. ”What in the name of Mother are you all doing?! Have you lost your damn minds?!” She glared at them, her anger burning like fire.

The people lowered their heads in shame.

”B-But... Mother left us,” someone sobbed... Then another... Then another.

Until the sound of weeping spread like a plague through the crowd.

They cried, drowning in the suffocating terror of abandonment.

The fear of loneliness...

Helena bit her lips so hard they nearly bled. No words came to her. Nothing could comfort them—because she too had lost her way.

She too had no answers for how everything had changed.

And she was not alone.

Sera, on the other side of the city, was facing the same horror. Another wave of people had gathered, ready to forsake their home and rush toward the Void Empire.

Where the god of death awaited them.

At least, they thought, they could still serve a god, right?

”Have you lost your mind?!” Sera screamed, blocking teleportation with her own power. Her furious expression cut through the sea of bodies pressing forward, desperate to leave.

”We are Mother’s children! Life is precious! Living is precious! And you would throw it all away to serve death? How could you even think of this?! After all the years you’ve lived here?!” Her words lashed them like whips, and their bodies trembled violently, shaking under her gaze.

But then... a single, broken word escaped their lips. A word that silenced her completely.

”But... we don’t have a god now... do we?”

Sera froze.

Things... were changing... Altering far more than anyone had expected.

Was this what the trial had meant all along?

Meanwhile, hidden among the trembling crowd, a cloaked figure stood perfectly still. His hood shadowed everything except for two burning eyes—icy, glowing blue.

And those eyes were not only here.

The same blue eyes stared from within the Zephyra Empire, where battles raged. They watched the duel erupting in crimson flames.

They followed the soldiers marching toward the palace gates.

They glimmered in the chaos of dragons clashing, clawing, and tearing one another apart for the throne of nobility.

Numerous ice-blue eyes.

Scattered across Empires.

Watching every scene with dangerous hunger.