Lackey's Seducing Survival Odyssey

Chapter 1555: When No.25 joined the dance: Part-2

Sera and Helena rushed forward, trying to pull the kneeling people to their feet, but it felt like dragging statues rooted into stone.

Aether’s advance had forced the metallic figures backwards, yet the crowd did not move with the same urgency. Instead of fleeing, they remained on their knees, faces lifted, eyes wide, as though the battlefield had transformed into a sacred altar before them.

”Get up. You need to leave this place right now!” Sera shouted, gripping the shoulder of a man kneeling on the blood-soaked ground.

His gaze did not shift from Aether, not even when she shook him harder.

White arcs of light streaked across his pupils, reflections of the spear’s motion carving through steel bodies. Every swing left behind a luminous trail that lingered in the air for a heartbeat before fading like dissolving stardust.

”I-It’s fine...” the man murmured, his lips trembling while a strange smile curved across his face. He slowly turned to Sera, eyes shining with unstable devotion.

”Our God will protect us. Just look at him... look at that radiance... He is beautiful beyond words.

sniff

What have I done to deserve witnessing such grace?”

His gaze drifted back to Aether, drinking in the sight of his long white hair flowing with each calculated step, moving not wildly but rhythmically, like silk stirred by a deliberate wind.

Sera exhaled sharply and glanced toward Helena, who was struggling with a similar situation. Her fingers flexed in frustration as she lowered her voice.

”What is wrong with them? Seconds ago, they were running for their lives. Now they are kneeling in the middle of chaos as if this is some holy festival.”

Even those who were taken to safety were now coming towards the white light like a drawn moth!

”NO. LET ME SEE MY GOD’S DANCE!”

Sera turned as a pregnant woman shoved Helena aside with surprising force. Helena stumbled backwards, stabilised herself just in time, and confusion etched across her face.

The woman cradled her belly protectively, tears streaming down her cheeks as she whispered to the life within her.

”Look closely, my child. He came for us... H-He came to protect everyone.

Y-You must remember this sight.

Watch how he fights for us, my love.”

Helena stared at her, stunned. ”What are you even saying...” she muttered, then looked at Sera for clarity.

”D-Didn’t you hear, Archpriestess?” another man said from behind them, his expression hovering between awe and madness.

Sera turned slowly, her brows tightening. ”Hear what?”

He lifted a trembling hand toward the battlefield.

””It won’t happen again. N-Not while I stand.”

That is what our God declared.

The final verdict. An oracle spoken into existence.

Can’t you see it unfolding?”

His voice quivered with certainty as he gestured toward Aether, as though the very air around him had already become prophecy.

Shucckk!

At that moment, the battlefield roared. The spear thrusts forward, piercing straight through a metallic skull. The impact produced a sharp, cracking resonance before the metallic figure collapsed inward, dissolving into a plume of dark smoke.

Aether stepped through the fading cloud without hesitation. Wherever his bare feet touched, blood-soaked earth crystallised into delicate snowflakes, lifting gently into the sky. The transformation spread outward from each step, replacing gore with silent white shimmer.

He rotated the spear along his fingers with effortless control, the weapon spinning, flipping, sliding across his palm before snapping back into a firm grip.

Aether’s body radiated intense white energy that surged across his skin in rippling currents. The spear in his right hand pulsed like a living vein, light travelling along its shaft in rhythmic waves. His long hair swayed calmly despite the violent storm around him, and though his eyes remained closed, his steps never faltered.

A metallic figure launched a concentrated blue beam directly toward his head. Without opening his eyes, Aether tilted his face slightly, the beam grazing past his shoulder with a hiss that burned the air behind him.

Ssshhh!

The beam that slipped past him in the final breath of a second tore across the battlefield like a screaming comet.

A lone woman kneeling in the open, her body still, her hands resting upon her thighs as if she were seated within a quiet temple instead of a slaughter ground.

She did not move.

Even as the beam roared toward her face, humming with enough force to erase bone and flesh alike, she remained bowed, eyes lifted in devotion.

The world around her burned and shattered, yet her expression carried only reverence.

”MOVE!” Sera’s voice cracked as she lunged forward, boots slipping against blood and flesh.

Aether was too far, so was she. The beam would reach the woman before anyone else could.

The blue light swallowed the last inch of space, hitting her f-

Bufff~

Instead of impact, the beam unravelled. Its violent core burst apart into a mist of glowing fragments, dissolving into thousands of soft particles that drifted against the woman’s cheeks like cool evening snow.

She blinked once.

Before her hovered Aether’s spear. The blade burned with white flame that twisted and coiled like a living creature, yet the heat parted around her skin. The tip stopped mere inches from her forehead.

Her fingers trembled as she reached out.

She touched the spear’s edge.

The metal was sharp enough to divide steel, the fire fierce enough to melt bone, yet against her skin it felt warm, almost gentle.

No cut formed... No scorch marked her flesh.

A breath shuddered from her lungs. Something unseen flowed from the spear into her chest. The panic that had clawed at her heart moments ago dissolved.

Guilt, grief, dread, all of it loosened and slipped away.

The battlefield noise dulled. The crushing weight inside her ribs vanished as if lifted by unseen hands.

She felt light.

Weightless.

Her tears fell freely, streaking through the blue dust that still shimmered on her skin.

”T-Thank you... F-Father.”

Around her, others gasped. Some pressed their foreheads to the frozen ground. Others raised shaking hands toward Aether as though witnessing a scripture written in motion.

Aether’s right hand moved.

With a sharp pull of his fingers, the hovering spear snapped backwards, drawn by invisible force. It shot back the kneeling woman in a white streak that split the smoke. The shaft whistled through the air and crashed into the metallic figure that had fired the beam.

Crrrkkk!

The blade punched through its faceplate. Metal cracked. Blue light flickered violently before dying out.

Aether turned toward it, calm as winter. He walked forward through drifting ash and behind his trails reverse falling frost.

When he reached the impaled metallic figure, he grasped the spear and wrenched it free. The body convulsed once before collapsing inward, dissolving into black smoke that curled and vanished.

Snnngg!

Thud!

Snnggg!

Thud!

Aether lifted his gaze.

They were gathering.

Hundreds of metallic figures formed a tightening ring around him, gears grinding, plates shifting into combat alignment.

Guns vibrated with concentrated blue cores that pulsed like artificial hearts.

Circular saws shrieked as their teeth spun faster, scattering sparks across the snow-dusted ground.

Long blades gleamed with sharpened edges, reflecting his white glow in fractured streaks.

Steam hissed from vents along their shoulders and backs, heat leaking from overheated engines.

Their focus narrowed with mechanical precision.

His left side.

An empty sleeve swayed softly against the storm of energy.

He did not have a left hand.

They adjusted formation, drifting slightly toward that side, targeting what they calculated as weakness.

Beyond them, the kneeling crowd watched in breathless reverence.

Some whispered prayers.

Some sobbed openly.

A few pressed their palms together, trembling as if witnessing the descent of judgment itself. Faith thickened the air more heavily than smoke.

Helena’s jaw tightened. Her fingers dug into the hilt of her sword until her knuckles whitened. ”We should help him,” she said.

A High Priestess stepped forward, eyes blazing with fervour. ”How dare you look down on our God?” she snapped, her voice vibrating with outrage and devotion intertwined.

”He does not require your help... Nor anyone’s.”

She pointed toward the encircled figure at the centre. ”Look at him.”

Her lips broke into a trembling laugh.

”He is smiling. OUR GOD IS SMILING.”

Sera turned despite herself.

Aether stood surrounded by engines of destruction, weapons trained upon his missing arm, steam curling around him like coiling serpents. White energy rippled along his skin, steady and controlled. His long hair drifted gently in the charged air.

And on his face, calm and unshaken, rested a smile.

And.

Step!

In the next second, he swung his spear in a flawless arc, slicing through two metallic figures at once. Their bodies split cleanly in half, fragments falling apart as though carved from softened wax. In the same motion, he twisted his torso and kicked off the ground, narrowly escaping a circular saw that slammed down exactly where he had been standing a heartbeat earlier.

Thuc!

His spear shot backwards without him even turning fully, the tip driving straight into the attacker’s head. The metallic figure convulsed once before collapsing into thick black smoke.

Aether rolled the spear across his fingers, the shaft humming with restrained power as he faced the remaining figures. A faint, haughty smile curved across his lips as he beckoned them forward with two calm fingers.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

SCcchhh!

SShhhh!

Weapons after weapons, the metallic figures charged at him relentlessly, their only purpose to kill.

Blades slashed, saws spun, and cannons fired in overlapping patterns meant to overwhelm him.

Yet none of them managed to step within a single meter of his body.

Not even their attacks could breach that invisible boundary.

The spear crashed, thrust, and swept in seamless transitions, every strike timed with unnerving precision.

It did not look chaotic.

It looked composed, almost melodic, as though the weapon followed a rhythm no one else could hear.

Nobody had ever wielded a spear like that.

Helena stared, her breath uneven. ”I-Imagine what would happen if he used both hands...”

Sera slowly nodded, unable to look away.

It was her first time witnessing someone command a spear with such terrifying elegance using only one hand.

The weapon seemed weightless in his grip, guided by instinct sharpened beyond reason.

It was not the refinement of years.

It was something deeper, something carved into his very existence.

There were no unnecessary movements, no wasted strikes. Every motion served a purpose, every shift in stance calculated.

He was... perfect.

Just fucking perfect!

Aether bent his knees and launched into the sky with explosive force. As he ascended, he spun the spear above him, the rotations accelerating until it resembled the blades of a helicopter.

The air pressure shifted violently, wind spiralling outward before reversing direction.

SSSSSHHHHHHHH!!!

The ground trembled as a vortex formed beneath him, pulling debris, dust, and shattered metal into a rising column.

The wind howled, circling tighter and faster until it birthed a roaring tornado that clawed at the battlefield.

”What is he doing?” Helena shouted, crouching low as she shielded her face from the violent gusts. The vortex grew wider, faster, its rotation sharpening into a blinding funnel of white energy.

The remaining metallic figures attempted to retreat, their beams shallowed into the vortex, their heavy frames grinding against the earth, but the pull was absolute.

One by one, they were lifted from the ground, dragged helplessly into the spinning storm.

Creaakkk!

Their bodies bent and twisted under unbearable force. Metal shrieked as it fractured, plates tearing apart while arcs of white lightning sparked violently within the tornado’s core.

Thunder cracked through the sky as energy surged through the vortex, illuminating the storm from within.

The people below bowed their heads instinctively, trembling as they witnessed the unleashed wrath of their god.

Tears streamed down their faces. To stand beneath such power felt like witnessing the end of the world and salvation at the same time.

SSSSSHH-!

Then, just as abruptly as it began, the tornado ceased.

The winds vanished!

The roaring silence collapsed into stillness.

Thud!

CLANK!

Aether descended to the ground, landing with controlled weight. Opposite him, one last metallic figure crashed down heavily, its frame cracked and smoking.

They had arrived in thousands.... Now, only one remained.

A burst of black smoke released from the dying tornado and dissolved into the dark night.

Aether stood unmoving, facing the fallen metallic figure that crawled backwards in visible fear. Its joints creaked sharply with every desperate shift, metal grinding against metal as it tried to retreat.

Even though it had no face... the fear was unmistakable!

With his eyes still closed, Aether lifted his spear and brought it down in a decisive final swing meant to end everything.

The metallic figure raised its arm instinctively, as if that thin slab of steel could block the inevitable. It knew the blade would slice through it like butter.

... However, the strike never landed.

Confused, the metallic figure slowly lowered its arm. The spear tip hovered mere inches from its head, trembling in the air, so close that a single breath would have finished it.

SSssshhHHHhhhhhHHHhhhHhhhhHHH!

Aether’s brow tightened slightly.

He felt it clearly now... An opposing force surged from the spear itself. Though his hand held the shaft firmly, the very tip resisted, pushing back with overwhelming pressure.

The air between them distorted, splitting faintly as if invisible hands were gripping the weapon from both ends.

It was as though two wills collided within the same strike.

One was Aether’s, calm and absolute. The other emerged from the spear, immense and defiant, refusing to complete the execution.

The space around the blade trembled violently, currents of white energy sparking along its edge.

Aether remained silent. He gazed at the trembling metallic figure for a long moment before slowly withdrawing the spear.

The metallic figure froze, confusion radiating from its rigid frame.

Why spare it?

Was something worse coming?

It did not wait to search for answers. The instant the pressure lifted, it staggered to its feet and ran, stumbling across shattered ground. A golden portal tore open ahead of it, swirling with radiant light. Without hesitation, the figure leapt through.

The portal swallowed it whole before sealing shut.

Aether stood still, his closed eyes facing the space where the portal had been. He remained there for several long seconds, as if listening to something far beyond the battlefield.

Then he exhaled slowly and deeply.

Sera approached him, ”Why did you—”

She stopped mid-sentence.

Aether raised his spear towards the sky. With precise, flowing movements, he began to draw across the air itself. The spear moved like a brush guided by invisible ink, carving luminous white trails that lingered instead of fading.... creating an image of something that only Aether’s women knew....

”Seal of Aethernal?” Helena whispered.