Lackey's Seducing Survival Odyssey

!~Ding~!

"For Her Majesty!!"

A bulky, muscular woman clad in ornate silver armour shouted, her voice echoing across the bloodstained field. She sat tall atop a massive warhorse, the beast snorting steam, hooves pounding the cracked earth as she charged towards the advancing army.

She surged ahead, unflinching, pushing through the chaos and clamour... raising one gauntleted hand, fingers glittering with silvery magic, and,

Sssnnn~

A massive sword, forged of mist and starlight, appeared in her grip. She tightened her hold, arm rippling with strength. With a single, brutal swing, she cleaved through the air—silver arc flashing, slicing a third of the enemy soldiers apart in less than a heartbeat.

Aether, witnessing the carnage, hummed softly. After all… these were Starla's memories, right?

But he already knew the truth: in this battle, she would fall. She'd die fighting for her Queen. He gazed upwards, the sky awash in a blood-red haze, so much like the skies over the Void Empire.

"I need to go deeper," Aether muttered.

Aether drew a sharp breath and focused. The vision reversed in a dizzying rush, as if time itself buckled... events playing backwards, the battlefield fading, soldiers undying, blood returning to veins.

It was not that hard... it was like he was going deep inside her instead of screaming and pushing her... he was just swimming deeper and... deeper!

He glimpsed Starla kneeling in a marble hall, swearing her life to protect her Queen.

Some memories blurred and tore away, jagged at the edges, as if they'd never existed at all.

"Uh? Why is that?" Aether wondered aloud, brow furrowed. "I'm reliving their memories, right? Why are parts missing?"

Why the cut scenes?

He frowned... Then it struck him. In the Void Empire, when someone died, The Grace would take fragments of a person's memories and entomb them with the body or just grave, a token of gratitude for their existence.

That's how Nyx managed to linger so long: by stealing those fragments and weaving them into her own essence.

"Not true memories, just… sources," he whispered to himself. "Changing them, using them, that's all."

Aether nodded to himself. It was understandable, in a way. Still, he clung to hope that somewhere—buried deep—this "square box" Starla kept mentioning.... If her soul remembered it, then perhaps it really existed.

With that desperate hope, he accelerated the vision, rewinding time with supernatural speed. Starla's life ran backwards before his eyes—battle scars healing, her posture shifting from seasoned warrior to stubborn youth. Her fierce spirit never faltered; not once did she yield, her will sharp as her sword.

She was born for this, destined to stand by her Queen.

Aether still wondered: was her resolve forged in tragedy, or was she simply born unbreakable?

As the memories continued to unravel, Aether winced, pain blossoming behind his eyes. His real body trembled, hand tightening over Starla's own... her fingers now mere wisps, ghostly, yet he kept holding on, refusing to let her slip away entirely.

Starla glanced sidelong at Nyx, "What's he doing? It hurts a little…"

Nyx offered her a mysterious smile, "Patience, Starla. He's searching for something only you can give."

Starla hesitated, lips parted as if to protest, then closed her eyes and simply waited.

Meanwhile, Aether went deeper into her memories… from the sensations and images flickering through her mind, it seemed certain: she had really lived in the Void Empire.

But… for some reason, this landscape looked slightly different. Sure, the sky was still a dull grey, and the same old curse still lingered, just as in the present.

Everything seemed unchanged at first glance… except… There was something subtly, disturbingly odd about it.

It was like… Aether couldn't quite put his finger on it, but the feeling clung to him, chilling and insistent.

There was a difference here, somewhere deep in the bones of this Empire.

Starla and her Queen lived in the same palace—at least, it looked identical to where Mary once ruled. Yet something was off: this palace wasn't the cold obsidian fortress he remembered, but a radiant golden hall.

Aether frowned, trying to pull meaning from the fragmented images. Starla, never much for reading, rarely spent time in the palace library. Her days in those ancient times were devoted to practice, sweat, and drills.

She trained relentlessly, every muscle forged for war, every waking hour spent striving for strength.

She only practised and worked out to grow stronger, to chase the impossible dream of winning a place among the royal guards... her one ambition.

She wasn't tangled up in politics, never sat in the smoky council chambers, never whispered secrets with the King or high ministers.

Her role was simple: protect the Queen!

That was all she needed.

From what he could gather, Aether learned that the New Empire was a wicked, dangerous place; they seemed to grow in technology... which could not be achieved by others.

Which leads to the war?

What the fuck?

Starla, even then, rarely left the Queen's side. Her world was the palace and its endless marble corridors.

Though Aether felt a pang of disappointment at this... he still pressed on. He pushed deeper through her memories, determined not to turn away.

He reached a point that shimmered with the innocence of her early youth… Starla, age fifteen.

She looked like an ordinary girl, so unlike the muscular warrior she would become. In this vision, she stood quietly in a long line, waiting alongside dozens of others before… some kind of strange, ancient temple?

Aether's frown deepened as he focused on her face... joy, pure and innocent, lit her features. She bounced on her heels with excitement.

"Fifteen?" Aether murmured to himself, brow furrowing in thought. "Did I… did all of us go through something at fifteen?

Was this a baptism? Or... some kind of coming-of-age trial?"

He squinted at the ritual unfolding.

Was this how they received their arcane card?

Or was it something… an Origin Card?

Aether's mind raced. As he searched through all the flickering memories, he realised something strange: never once had he seen Starla use the card she received. Not only her, but everyone she interacted with in those visions—none of them ever called upon it, never spoke of it.

He shook his head... The more he concentrated, the more his mind swelled with half-formed images and overwhelming information... his brain burned at the edges, but he refused to let go.

He'd come too far... He would not give up now!

Starla's excitement grew as she stepped inside the temple… but the room that unfolded before her was no sacred chamber, just an ordinary house.

He watched Starla step into the space. Inside, a group of people stood waiting for her, smiles gentle and mysterious as they welcomed her in.

At the far end of the room, a strange, metallic-sized Big cube hovered, glinting in the dim light.

Aether frowned, breath catching as he stared at the object. "A cube? What is that?"

The vision trembled, light flickering, as the memory pulled him closer to the unknown.

Snap!

The scene was cut suddenly… What Aether saw next was startling: he found himself seeing through Starla's eyes, standing outside the metallic cube, her vision foggy and her breath uneven. She tried to step forward, but her knees buckled—... he stumbled and fell to the cold floor. The people who had been standing nearby rushed forward, helping her back up, concern softening their faces.

"It's alright, young child…" one of them said gently, a tall woman. She steadied Starla, offering an encouraging nod.

Starla, still dazed and confused, "Hu… what happened? I—I don't remember after I went inside. I… I…" Her words trailed off into a groan, a deep ache in her head, as if someone had torn a piece of her memory away on purpose.

The people only smiled, "Don't worry, Ether will protect you."

Hearing that, Aether's heart froze... his eyes widened in utter horror.

"Ether? What?" he whispered, the word echoing through his mind.

It was the first time he'd heard that word spoken so clearly in this place… Did that mean the ancient people really knew about Ether all along?

Starla, slowly regaining her senses, nodded with a hesitant smile. The woman guided her to a small square box... just as Starla had described, it was like a strange, enchanted printing machine. It had a narrow slot, just wide enough for a card to slide out, and above it glimmered a crystal bulb that pulsed with an inner light.

As she approached, the bulb flashed—the light flickered across her body in delicate red beams, sweeping up and down as if scanning her very soul. Starla flinched in surprise, nerves tingling beneath her skin, then watched as the light blinked a few times and suddenly shifted from red to a shimmering blue.

🔔~Ding~🔔

A unique mechanical chiming sound rang out—nothing like the ancient bells or magical echoes he'd heard before. Wait… no, it wasn't like his Log either. It was something he'd only recently heard, almost like the voices that appeared in the sky when ancient words were revealed.

Aether's frown deepened as he focused. From the narrow slot in the box, a single card slowly slid out. Starla hesitantly reached for it, hand trembling… just as she was about to grasp it, a pale hand swept in and picked up the card first.

"Oh? You've drawn a unique weapon, young lady."

The speaker was a man with striking white hair, dressed in a tailored black suit. He crouched down to meet Starla at eye level, his smile gentle and mischievous all at once. Starla's eyes sparkled, brimming with awe and excitement. She accepted the card from his hand.

The man reached out and pressed his palm softly to her forehead in a gesture of blessing.

"May Ether bless you, child,"

He said with a warm smile, rubbing her forehead as if anointing her with hope.

Aether… could only stare at the man, stunned and silent.

He knew this face.... This was the same man he had met as a boy, the one he'd encountered when he entered that personal realm searching for Helena's mother.

'What the fuck—' The thought exploded in his mind, confused, but before he could finish the words, his consciousness was yanked violently backwards and—

!~Ding~!

His eyes snapped wide open as he returned to the real world, lungs heaving, every breath ragged and desperate. His body was drenched in sweat, hair clinging to his forehead.

He gripped the sides of his head, mind spinning... fragments of not just memories, but raw feelings, scents, the swaying of grass, the taste of the air… every sensation from that vision was flooding into his consciousness, love, hate, words, echoes, disappearance, deaths... overwhelming and wild!!

For a second, he seemed truly lost.... adrift between worlds, teetering on the edge of madness.

But then, a gentle touch... Nyx's hand, cool and steady, rested on his shoulder. Instantly, his thoughts soothed, like rain falling over blazing coals. The chaos ebbed, and his mind grew quiet, a kind of trembling peace settling through him.

"Take a breath… You shouldn't try to pry into another's soul memory, husband. It will harm you." Nyx's voice was grave, the most serious he'd ever heard from her.

"Y-You know?" Aether muttered.

Nyx shook her head, "I don't know how you did it. Only the dead and the living can sense that space, and even then, I could barely feel the edge of it… But you, you delved straight into their memories without any physical artifacts?

What are you, Husband?"

For a moment, Aether wondered... was he like her? Both dead and alive? Or something else entirely?

He swallowed hard, eyes flicking to Starla, who now wore a puzzled, faraway look.

"W-What is… Ether?" he asked.

Starla blinked, then raised her eyebrows as if surprised by the question. Without hesitation, she answered, voice echoing with a strange certainty,

"GOD!"