Lackey's Seducing Survival Odyssey

Chapter 1556: When No.25 joined the dance: Part-3

In the heart of the Aurora Empire, where snowflakes flowed upward from the bloodied ground to the sky as though gravity reversed, they drifted and spiralled around an unseen centre. Amid that impossible snowfall, a brilliant white radiance unfurled, taking shape like a ribbon of living light suspended in the void.

Ssshhh~Sshhh~Sssshhh~

Aether hovered within that frozen storm, spear clasped firmly in his grasp as he turned through the air with deliberate precision. The spear tip blazed with pure white flames, and those flames streamed outward like silk ribbons tethered to steel, bending and curving with every controlled motion of his wrist.

Each rotation of his body guided the spear in arcs so elegant and disciplined that it felt less like combat and more like artistry. The air itself seemed to serve as his canvas, the flames leaving luminous trails that lingered just long enough to form meaning.

Helena’s breath caught as her eyes followed the burning lines. ”Is that... the Seal of Aethernal?” she murmured as the symbol began to take shape.

Sera’s brow furrowed, confusion deepening as she stepped closer, snow swirling around her ankles. ”No... wait,” she said slowly, narrowing her eyes as she studied the curves more carefully.

”That isn’t the Seal... is it?”

For a fleeting moment, the blazing pattern resembled the infinity symbol etched upon Aether’s women, the familiar ∞ carved into flesh and memory alike.

Yet as the spear continued its fluid dance, the illusion... fractured.

This form was not two balanced loops resting against one another. It was a single continuous band, curving and folding into itself in a way that only appeared infinite from certain angles.

When viewed from another perspective, the truth revealed itself.

This was no infinity symbol!

Helena and Sera stared as the spear tip glided without pause, tracing the endless pathway with flawless control.

The white flames did not flicker wildly; they obeyed him, sliding across the air in seamless motion as if guided by invisible rails.

The image solidified into a three-dimensional structure, resembling a single strip of paper joined end to end with a solitary twist at its centre.

A seamless band... No seam or edge.

No beginning and no end existed within it.

The twisted loop revolved slowly, white flames cascading along its surface like living veins of light.

The glow reflected across the snow and across Aether’s face, bathing him in pale radiance.

At the same moment, the tattoo upon his chest ignited in response, the same twisted pattern pulsing faintly beneath his skin.

Light seeped through his flesh in steady breaths, as though his heart and the symbol now beat in unison.

Helena swallowed, ”What exactly is he attempting?”

Sera did not look away from the burning construct. ”I do not know... but that is not merely a drawing,” she replied quietly.

A sharp crack split the air as a white spark erupted at the centre of the construct.

From one angle, it seemed to flash at the point where the loops would intersect, yet in truth, it manifested at the very heart of the twisted band, where inside and outside became indistinguishable.

The spark pulsed and slowly expanded.

Slowly, impossibly, it condensed into the shape of a small flower bud suspended within the endless loop.

Petals formed layer by delicate layer, luminous and soft, their edges defined with startling clarity as though carved from porcelain light. It looked fragile, yet the energy radiating from it pressed heavily against the air.

His grip tightened around the spear until his knuckles whitened, muscles along his arms coiling with restrained force. Without hesitation, he thrust the spear forward, the flaming tip aimed directly at the glowing bud as though to pierce its heart.

The moment they collided,

”Argh!”

Aether’s body jolted violently as a shockwave rebounded through the shaft of the spear and into his arms.

Blood spilled from the corner of his lips, staining the rising snow crimson as the bud resisted with crushing opposition.

The force pressed against him like an unseen wall, refusing intrusion.

!~Ding~!

[🚨Warning: Unauthorised access to Seal of Aethernal cannot be permitted!]

Aether’s jaw clenched, veins standing out along his neck as he leaned into the resistance rather than retreating from it.

The spear trembled between his hands, white flames roaring brighter as he forced it forward inch by inch.

The bud quivered under the pressure, its petals vibrating, yet it did not yield.

Snow continued to rise around them, the twisted loop blazing overhead, and in that suspended storm, Aether pushed against the impossible with unwavering resolve, the spear locked in a silent battle against a power that refused to be breached.

C... Crack!

The ground beneath Aether fractured violently, jagged lines racing outward in every direction as the immense pressure from the bud forced him downward. His bare foot ground against the stone, heels sinking inch by inch, yet the spear tip continued its relentless advance toward the very nip of the luminous bud.

”A-Aether... stop!” Helena cried out as she saw thin fissures spreading across his skin, glowing faintly with the same white strain that radiated from the seal.

”You’re tearing yourself apart!”

But her voice never reached him.

Aether’s world had narrowed to a single point, the glowing heart of that bud. He pushed forward, muscles trembling, teeth bared, the spear inching closer with agonising slowness as though piercing the core of existence itself.

”AARRRHHHHH!”

His scream ripped through the night as his legs buckled under the crushing force. The pressure felt like an entire world collapsing onto his shoulders, yet...

THUD!

The spear drove into the bud with a resounding impact, sinking in like a key finding its destined lock.

In that instant, a violent surge erupted outward.

Lightning-like veins split through the air, branching across the bud in jagged patterns, spreading in all directions like the roots of a celestial tree.

Each branching tip ignited with fierce brilliance, pulsing with power that hummed through the storming sky.

Yet among those numerous blazing veins, two stood taller than the rest. They were not brighter, only distinct, stretching farther into the dark. Of the two, one had completely dimmed, lifeless and hollow, while the other flickered faintly, its glow unstable and smaller, trembling like a flame fighting against extinction.

The tattoo upon his skin blazed with sudden intensity, the small flower bud etched at its centre quivering before blooming fully across his chest. Petals of light unfolded against flesh, radiant and alive, spreading warmth through every vein in his body.

In the very next second, Helena and Sera gasped.

Their eyelids fluttered uncontrollably, and when their eyes opened, the colour had vanished entirely.

No pupil.

No iris.

Only a vast, unbroken white that glowed softly beneath the storm.

They did not understand what had happened. They did not even realise it had.

And they were not alone.

In the Pyra Empire, beneath skies choked with smoke and ash, Thalia stood amid devastation.

Her arms were drenched in blood, fingers curled into tight fists as towering metallic figures surrounded her in a tightening circle. The battlefield lay in ruins around her, shattered stone and fallen bodies strewn across crimson-soaked earth.

She panted heavily, shoulders rising and falling as she forced herself upright despite the tremor in her limbs.

”Ha... ha... I can do this all day...” she muttered hoarsely, spitting blood onto the ground as she steadied her stance.

For a brief second, her vision blurred.

When she blinked and opened her eyes again... they had turned completely white.

High above another battlefield, Nyx clashed against roaring sky jets that streaked through the clouds like iron predators. Sparks burst in violent bursts around her, yet in the midst of combat, her eyes too shifted into that same unnatural white.

Selene. Nightfire. Nyx. One after another, across distant fronts and shattered lands, their eyes were claimed by the same pale glow.

In the Naiadae Empire,

Crack...

Crrrnnnkkk...

Massive metallic tentacles crashed to the ground, broken and twitching, red sparks spitting from severed joints. Only two remained barely functional, their jagged ends scraping across the stone as they focused on the woman standing before them.

She looked half mad, half triumphant.

One of her arms had been torn away at the shoulder, blood pouring down her side in steady drips that struck the fractured ground below. Yet she stood upright, lips curled into a defiant smirk.

Drip...

Her severed limb lay discarded nearby, but her remaining hand gripped a knife so tightly her knuckles blanched. Her legs shook violently under the weight of blood loss and exhaustion, yet she refused to fall.

The blade slipped slightly in her grasp before she tightened her fingers again.

Within her pupil, the faint outline of a tattoo flickered. A strange sensation coursed through her, subtle yet undeniable, as though an unseen thread had suddenly tethered her to something vast and distant.

She frowned briefly, unable to comprehend it.

Then her eyes turned completely white.

Without hesitation, she lunged forward toward the two incoming strikes.

Elsewhere, Aqualina and Celestia commanded their armies against relentless hordes of metallic constructs attempting to breach the city gates.

The same eye colour changed there too.

In the Zephyra Empire,

Aria pressed her back against the remains of a fallen building, broken stone biting into her torn armour as relentless streams of bullets hammered the rock shielding her.

Each impact chipped fragments away, dust and shards spraying across her blood-soaked skin.

Her breathing came sharp and uneven, yet her fingers moved. She drew another arrow from her quiver and nocked it into her compact bow, the string trembling as she leaned out just enough to aim.

She did not target their bodies... She targeted their joints.

The arrow flew.

Crrrk!

Metal shrieked as it pierced into a vulnerable hinge, and one of the metallic figures staggered, its limb jerking violently as sparks burst outward. Yet even as plates cracked and mechanisms blasted apart, the metallic figures continued advancing without pause.

Aria leaned out again, loosing another arrow, sweat and blood sliding down her jaw. This time, as she lifted her gaze to calculate her next shot, her vision shifted.

Her eyes flared into a luminous, absolute white.

Across the fractured street, Liora, in her massive wolf form, snarled as metallic giants began to encircle her. Her fur was matted with blood, claws carving trenches into steel, yet the enemy closed in from all sides.

BOOM!

”Arrhh!”

The explosion shook the street, smoke swallowing the scene.

Back in the Aurora Empire,

Aether’s eyelids clamped shut, brows drawn tight as his entire body trembled under invisible strain.

Though he physically stood within his empire, spear raised beneath the fading construct of light, his mind was elsewhere.

He stood within a white void surrounded by fifteen separate visions.

They pressed in around him like translucent spheres, each one showing a different battlefield.

All he could see was carnage.

Blood splattered earth.

Broken bodies.

Desperation carved into faces he knew.

It was not mere sight.

He felt it.

Fifteen streams of sensation flooded his nerves at once, as though he inhabited fifteen bodies simultaneously. Agony lanced through him from wounds not his own. Exhaustion weighed on limbs that were not physically there.

Two of those visions were dark and unreachable, silent and empty.

The remaining thirteen were drowning in struggle.

His jaw tightened, and pain contorted his face.

”So many lives... j-just like before...” His voice shook as memory and present blurred together.

”I... I despise—”

”It is all right, Master.”

The voice was soft and ethereal, which calmed him down.

”Everything is all right”

A gentle hand pressed against the centre of his back, warmth spreading through his spine. Aether flinched as the rage twisting his face began to loosen.

Behind him, the whisper continued, calm and unwavering.

”Let me... your Iskha’vel... take care of it.”

Aether’s breathing slowed.

A faint hum escaped his throat, ”Hmm”

Outside that realm, Helena and Sera watched him with growing unease.

Aether stood motionless, spear still raised toward the sky, the luminous twisted drawing he had created dissolving into faint, drifting strands of light. The thunder veins faded one by one, leaving only a lingering glow in the air.

Helena glanced at Sera, ”Should we approach him? What the...? Archpriestess, your eyes are glowing white.”

Sera blinked, startled. She turned toward Helena, only to freeze.

”What? Yours are glowing? What in the world is happening here—”

Before she could finish, the air shifted.

SSSSSSHHHHH~

A violent gust of wind surged outward from Aether’s position, snow spiralling in chaotic circles as the breeze transformed into a rising tempest.