Lackey's Seducing Survival Odyssey

In an almost dim and dark room,

[LOG 2.0…. Initiating]

[Initiating…]

[Initiating…]

Aether lay sprawled on the cold ground, his body stiff, his breathing shallow as his eyes fixated on the glowing panel of his Log. The details, the ones he always sought, were not showing—only this single, stubborn phrase repeating again and again.

Just Initiating…? Was that really all it had to say?

'What are you waiting for, Log? I thought I already initiated?' he muttered inwardly as a ball of frost gathered in his palm. He tossed it toward the wall with a flick of his wrist.

Thud!

The frozen sphere shattered on impact, scattering into a cloud of delicate snow particles that drifted down and melted against the stone.

[Yes, But For every action there is a Consequence]

Aether's brow furrowed. His Log… always playing this game, always circling around the truth as if afraid to let him grasp it fully.

Trying so hard not to make him understand… wasn't it?

'Hmm… I thought you would answer my every question after reaching Level 100, right?' he asked sharply, forcing another surge of cold through his fingers until another ice ball formed. He hurled it at the wall, harder this time, as if his frustration might shatter more than just stone.

Thud!

[Yes, With the threshold having been reached, I will gladly answer all of your questions]

Aether narrowed his eyes, 'Okay… then explain. What did you mean when you told me my reality would crumble without the Contract?'

!~Ding~!

[The Moment your future was stolen, You already lost your soul, Aether. So for the world, you are dead. But due to the #### Intervention, You managed to live. However, you were brought back here only because of the… Eternal Contract that binds the User's soul to the body. The only reason your soul and body remain together is because of the Contract…

The Very Law you are trying to oppose is the very Law that Protects your entire reality]

Aether's eyebrows arched, his lips pressing into a thin line.

[So in order to stay in this reality, you need a Pseudo-Owner of the Contract, otherwise you will be erased from this reality]

Aether's frown deepened, his voice low and uncertain as he spoke aloud,

"If that's true, then… isn't trying to remove this contract through seduction dangerous?"

After all, once he seduced the ten women on the list, wouldn't the contract itself collapse and cease to exist?

That was what the Log had told him at the very beginning, wasn't it? That was the initial condition, the cruel game he had been thrust into.

[Hmph, Why do you think you are seducing the women?]

Aether frowned, his mind spiralling. Why?... What could he possibly gain from seducing them? What was the point of this path?

Hmm… Nothing, right?

All he had gotten so far were women and…

"Affection Points?" Aether muttered under his breath, his tone carrying a mixture of surprise and disbelief.

His eyes flickered with both shock and confusion, the kind of reaction one gives when the world suddenly stops making sense.

!~Ding~!

[Affirmative! By seducing the Strongest and Most Fated Women in the worlds, you are forging your reality into this timeline, causing stability to return to your soul!]

Aether shook his head quickly, hair brushing against his forehead as he muttered with growing frustration, 'Wait! Wait… I don't get it.'

[😏]

'Tsk, Just tell me already!' he snapped inwardly.

[Sigh… The thing is that… Affection Points… aren't exactly Affections… In fact, they are Fate!]

'Fate?' Aether repeated, his eyebrows arching upward.

[Yes! The moment your future was stolen, you lost your very fate to live… Your existence was erased from the system itself…. So in order to keep you tethered beyond the contract,

We are.... stealing Fate from the very core of reality… disguising it in the name of Affections Points]

Aether's eyes widened, his expression twisting into utter shock as if lightning had struck straight through his thoughts.

[Come on now… Still not getting it? Haven't you seen it… or felt it… or perhaps you're simply trying not to feel guilty? I know you know this, Aether… but the truth is you didn't want to accept it]

His face darkened. A gloomy heaviness filled his chest.

Did he know?

Could he have realized it all along?

Of course not!

Then… it must have been the skills. The rewards. The level-ups he had received after the completion of each mission.

At first, they seemed random, scattered, like meaningless prizes thrown at him by chance. But when looked at closely—really closely—one could see the thread tying them together.

The relation between each skill and the woman he had seduced was undeniable.

It was almost as if everything had been crafted, not for him, but for them… always tied to their existence.

For example, when it came to Selene, he had received the Eternal Seal. At first, it appeared unrelated. But then he remembered her mother—the woman marked with a great, strange seal across her back.

Somehow, the connection was there.

Even recently, the skill he gained had been tied directly to Nyx.

Initially, Aether dismissed it as a coincidence, but as the situation dragged on, truth crept closer and closer until it stared him in the face. When Raven, who was supposed to inherit the Dragonic Heart, lost it—and instead, Aether had received it—that was the moment the last piece of the puzzle snapped into place.

That's when he connected the dots… He wasn't merely being rewarded. He was taking. He was seizing fragments of destiny itself from the women he seduced.

Whether knowingly or unknowingly, their fates were being stripped from them and grafted into him.

Aether didn't want to acknowledge it at first. He had shoved it into the back of his mind, buried it under denial and excuses. But somewhere deep inside, the truth lingered, waiting for him to admit it.

'So this is true after all… so the reason I couldn't receive anything from Celestia, or Sandra, or even Nightfire…' His thoughts trailed with bitterness.

[Because they had no Fate to grant. Sandra was always meant to die, her thread already severed. As for Nightfire… she wasn't woven with any grand Fate at all, just another fragile spark destined to fade. They were meant to die at some point… Except for Celestia. She, who was born with a heart that couldn't express her true feelings… it was impossible to trick the system into converting her fate into mere affection]

Aether's face paled, 'Then… Nyx? Didn't she almost die there? What about the others… like Aqualina, and the rest… didn't they almost die if not for me?'

[…]

'LOG'

[Yes, they are… but they wouldn't]

'What do you mean?' Aether pressed, his brows knitting tightly.

[The Law will protect them… after all, they were Chosen Ones for a reason]

Aether's frown deepened,'I… I really don't get this. If I didn't save Nyx, she would have freaking died, didn't she?'

[… The only reason she died… was because of you]

Aether blinked, his body stiffening as the words dug into him like a blade.

Taken aback, he froze, his thoughts racing altogether. Yeah… right.

Come to think of it, Nyx had wanted to use Ashara's soul back then, hadn't she? If he hadn't interfered…

He hadn't taken an interest in Nightfire...

Panic rose in his throat. His voice trembled as he blurted, "Then what about Aqualina? Or even Aria? They were the first ones to die, right?"

[…]

'LOG?!' His voice cracked, desperation seeping into the silence.

[Sigh… So far, what I know… from Iteration No.27, Aria was saved by her mother, who sacrificed herself. And Aqualina… no, she awakened her Origin weapon and was saved by her mother.]

'…'

Aether's entire face shifted into a solemn mask. His lips trembled before curling into the faintest, weakest of smiles.

'So… I am the problem? And I am the solution?'

[Sometimes… Truth hurts, Aether. That's why I didn't tell you anything before]

Aether scoffed under his breath, his laugh dry and bitter. 'What makes you think it's different now?'

[Because… now you are matured enough to understand everything. You reclaimed a part of your soul… even if it was only a minute fragment]

'…' Aether fell silent.

He didn't speak, didn't move, only lay there staring blankly at the wall.

After a long minute, maybe more, he finally answered in a hollow voice,

'So in order to stabilise my fate in this reality, I needed to steal fate from other women… those who were considered to hold a strong sense of fate. And by stealing from them, I made myself stable here… slowly, piece by piece… By connecting with so many women, my fate branched out into theirs, like countless veins stretching out from a single root.

I… I became the node, the central knot, the one holding and sharing the branches with everyone else. Is that it?'

!~Ding~!

[Affirmative]

Aether dragged a weary hand across his face, pinching the bridge of his nose. He muttered bitterly, 'Whenever I die… my fate is reduced. That's why you keep increasing the number of women, isn't it?'

!~Ding~!

[Affirmative]

'Sigh…' The breath slipped out of him heavier than before, a sigh that carried both anger and resignation.

Everything makes sense now!

So his life was never truly his own. From the very beginning, his survival was chained, dependent on women... No, it wasn't just women.

It could be anyone, anyone whose fate burned brightly enough. That's why his Log had once said... whatever his preference, it will acknowledge it.

So that was it. It wasn't about lust or love or even affection. It was all about fate... about finding people whose existence carried value in the fabric of reality… and stealing pieces of them, just to keep himself stable in the name of affection.