Lackey's Seducing Survival Odyssey

Chapter 1299: Terrorizing Empires: Part-2

”GASP!!!”

The echo rippled across Empires.

Everyone gasped in horror.

Aether’s back was completely gouged out... raw, torn, and impossible to comprehend. Flesh peeled away like a monster that coughed out from his back... Beneath it, the twisted lattice of his spine gleamed faintly in the light.

Some parts pulsed, some twitched like something still alive.

How in the world was he still breathing?

How was that body even human anymore?

The sight was nightmarish — that pulsating flesh, the slow twitch of muscles as if they remembered pain... the bone that moved on its own, and the dark vines coiling around it.

OH MY GOD!!!

Some covered their mouths, others turned away, retching. A few dropped to their knees, overcome by the nauseating mix of horror and guilt.

It wasn’t a wound.... It was a curse!!

Victor waved his hand softly, energy glimmering around his fingers, and the shredded shirt stitched itself back together — closing away the unbearable truth.

When the cloth settled, he exhaled heavily and let go of Aether. His eyes dimmed, his voice breaking.

”That’s... how he barely — I mean, really barely — saved my snowflake and the Princess of the Void Empire...”

Aether tilted his head slightly, his brows furrowing as he tried to make sense of what Victor meant.

Victor sighed deeply, his tone cracking between laughter and pain. ”Well, I guess I got emotional too, ahaha...” he muttered with a weak smile, shaking his head. Then he pulled Aether into another hug — one that trembled with everything unsaid.

”This man... this is my friend,” he said, his voice rising now, trembling with anger and pride.

”Only I have the right to question him!”

Victor turned toward the crowd, his gaze cold and blazing. His fists clenched until veins surfaced, trembling with restrained fury.

”Cursed by the gods themselves,” he said, each word trembling with wrath. ”Unable to heal his wounds. Still suffering, still standing — and all for you. He tried his best to save every last one of you!

Even that doom he proposed... it was his idea, his technology!”

The crowd stared, speechless, frozen in shame.

”Your rulers never told you because he didn’t want the credit!” Victor’s voice rose into a shout that rattled the air.

”He didn’t want your worship — he wanted to save lives! Without his creation, without his mind, without his sacrifice... none of you would be standing here.

Not a single fucking soul!!!”

Energy burst around him as he snapped his fingers.

A shimmering vision formed before them — a projection of the world outside the dome.

The barren wastelands.

The mutated monsters devour each other under the sky.

The twisted corpses of people who once lived and laughed. The broken lands, scorched and cursed beyond recognition — a world where life itself refused to exist.

Victor turned back toward them slowly, his expression unreadable.

”That... would be your fate. Every single one of you. If he wanted, he could’ve left. He could’ve saved himself and the few who stood beside him when he had nothing.”

His voice cracked, fury breaking through grief.

”Not you.... Not the rest of you ungrateful bastards!!”

...

Everyone lowered their heads. Their arrogance and their accusations crumbled into ash.

Was this guilt? Or shame? Or the first time they truly saw him?

Victor smirked faintly, his expression a mix of mockery and pain. ”Go on... speak,” he said, cupping his ear with a trembling hand. ”Talk all you want with your filthy mouths — the same mouths he fought to keep fed. Come on, let me hear it!”

But not a sound came.

No one dared.

”Fucking cowards...” Victor muttered. ”You can’t even stand by your own hypocritical thoughts?”

He exhaled sharply, the fury draining out of him into something colder. ”Anyway,” he said softly,

”That’s all we came to say. Everyone’s working day and night to deal with the new threat — an enemy still unknown, one we can barely even define. We’re busy fighting for survival... we don’t have time for your petty politics and your self-worth ass”

He turned to Aether once more, then back to the people,

”As Aether said... the Zephyra people have done nothing wrong. But now is not the time to test them. If you push this, if you force conflict...”

”Believe me... it will lead to your downfall. And when that happens, your Empire won’t just fall — it will cease to exist.”

Zephyra people, who had clenched their swords and gripped their weapons, loosened their hands slowly... and then, one by one, fell to their knees, faces drained of colour and breath.

”As for Aurora... tsk, fuck off... just go where you want, what god you believe... and die, ungrateful, ugly and backstabbing bastards!!” Victor spat, each word thrown straight at their hearts.

Aurora people trembled. Their bodies shook as if an unseen frost had settled in their bones; their eyes looked blank, dead inside, as if whatever spark had once lived there had been quietly snuffed.

”However... as for Pyra, my own territory... tsk, tsk... You shouldn’t have done that...” he said, a slow grin carving his face into something wicked and patient. He snapped his fingers, and the visuals changed.

In the midst of the people charging against the captains and commanders, suddenly a whip—no, a lash of pure shadow—splashed into being out of nowhere and sliced clean through the necks of those who charged the authorities.

”AARRHHH!!”

”KYYYAAAA!!”

Screams exploded across the field. Captains and commanders froze, unable to move; the traitors fell one by one, their heads severed without mercy, blood arcing like a rainbow in the sky.

The screams tore through the Empire as the projection snapped back to Victor, whose expression had hardened into something murderous and deliberate.

”You will not even know how you die,” he said, voice low and cold, ”that would be my mercy. And believe me when I say... I. am. not. angry. yet.

So, my dear Pyra people, do not mistake my silence for weakness—because that silence will be your final answer.”

The entire Pyra assembly, already kneeling, instantly bowed lower, foreheads pressing to the cold ground. They gulped, throats dry with fear—even those who had never once dreamed of betraying him.

It was not their loyalty in question, but the cowardice and selfishness of those who withheld their strength, those who disappointed him. They were not the ones punished—at least, not yet.

They could not help but wonder: if this was not anger, then what would his true fury look like?

Victor frowned, the shadow of a thought passing over his features as he added, ”As for... Naiadae Empire.”

A ripple of terror passed through the private armies and soldiers, a visible shudder. The nobles, usually so proud, so secure in their distance, nearly lost their composure entirely.... they knew the rules, knew that Victor could not strike them.

After all, it was another Empire.

If their Empress saw this, she would be furious; Surely she would protect them. Right?

However, Victor smirked, amusement and contempt mingling. ”Burst your bubbles,” he said, stepping back as a woman with purple hair, regal elegance, and indifferent eyes moved forward.

Immediately, every Naiadae face shifted to dread. She did not speak at first; she only cast a condescending glance over the nobles, and the look itself carried judgment.

”I think it is time to shuffle the nobility,” she said with an indifferent tone... As soon as she spoke, Sandra’s armies drew back instantly, while the nobles and their private guards were seized before they could even react.

BOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!!

BOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!!!!

”ARRRHHHHH!!!”

BOOOMMMMMM!!!

”RUN!!!”

The private armies scattered in blind panic. They couldn’t understand where it was coming from — the explosions, the smoke, the sudden tearing of the ground... Blasts erupted all over the field!!

No one knew what was happening.

Was someone among them holding a hidden weapon?

But that was impossible... magic couldn’t even function here, right?

Then how?

How in the world were they—

The nobles, who had thought this chaos was their moment to overthrow the Empire’s rule, froze. Their confidence shattered as they looked up at the grand visual screen — and saw Victor grinning at them wickedly, eyes glinting with cruel satisfaction.

”Bloody hell~” he said, voice dripping with sarcasm as he snapped his fingers.

BOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!!!

The screen flashed white.... Fire devoured the horizon.

Sandra, who had been quietly sipping her tea on her throne, flinched from the blast echo. She rubbed her ears with a pleased little hum.

”Ah... such peace. I love this,” she murmured with a wicked smile as her gaze lingered on the visuals of destruction.

Victor stood there grinning like a madman, and beside him, Aether stared at the projection with wide, tearful eyes.

”P-Please... stop it! They’ve already learned their lesson!” Aether’s voice cracked, trembling between plea and anger. His hands reached out, trying to stop Victor, as if his words could reach through the images of death.

Victor tilted his head, giving a careless shrug. ”Sorry, my friend, but this is how some people learn. Not from kind words or moral speeches — from fear... From reality!!”

”But... this is wrong!!” Aether’s voice thundered, fists clenching so tightly his nails drew blood.

Victor frowned, his tone suddenly sharp. ”We promised, didn’t we, Aether? We swore in the name of our friendship — and the gods themselves — never to cross each other’s line. I respected yours.” His eyes glimmered darkly.

”I didn’t touch your Aurora or Zephyra because you forbade me. You said they were yours to protect — and I agreed. But this...” He motioned toward the burning projection.

”This is my matter to handle. Empress Sandra herself asked me personally. I am only delivering what she requested. We respect each other’s decisions... right?”

Aether bit his lips until they bled.

”RIGHT?”

Aether’s shoulders slumped. The fire in his eyes dimmed as he lowered his head. ”Please... forgive me...” he whispered, voice trembling. He turned toward the people he could not save, his fists trembling violently as crimson drops fell from his bitten lips — a man trying to contain something monstrous inside his heart.

Sandra’s cheeks flushed deep red. Her breath hitched as her body trembled slightly.

”Oh, goodness... why does he look so irresistible now~” she whispered under her breath, her thighs pressing together as a feverish desire clouded her gaze.

Celestia, sitting beside her, exhaled softly with a faint chuckle. She shook her head, her eyes still fixed on her husband. ”He’s playing both sides again...” she murmured under her breath, a sly smile forming.

Hero... and Villain.

Honestly, if they didn’t know the truth — if they hadn’t seen behind the curtain — they would have believed these two were different men.

Victor suddenly flinched, a faint shiver running down his spine. A grin curled on his lips as a knowing spark passed through his eyes. The connection between them...

He giggled softly to himself. ”Looks like I’ll have more work tonight~”