Evolution Online: I Can Fuse With All Things

Lucien's eyes widened as he turned to see the white serpent towering over his head. His mind immediately flashed back to the massive creature that had wrapped itself around the metallic bird and had been mistakenly killed by a guy that looked like a harpy.

A human being was a snake!

'It's called Evolution Online, you dumb fool!'

The white snake lunged forward with terrible speed, slithering past him and crashing into the man with its jaws wide open. The man blocked her jaws with the stick, but the power of her force caught him off guard. She shoved him forward until both of them crashed into a nearby tree.

Immediately, she withdrew her body to gather momentum, but as she lunged forward again, the man blurred past her head, raised the stick, and slashed down. A fountain of crimson blood sprayed into the air as the stick sliced through her glistening white scales.

The snake screeched and writhed away in pain, its eyes gleaming malevolently for a moment.

Then it lunged again, this time with even more vicious speed and ferocity. White aura covered its entire body, letting it ooze white smoke. The speed doubled tremendously as it blurred like a storm of white and once again crashed into the man.

The man blocked with his sword and flew leisurely away as he was sent reeling through the air. Just as he was about to crash into a tree, he gently landed on it, a small smile frozen on his lips. He bent his legs and shot off the tree—his takeoff completely turned the poor tree to splinters.

He crashed into the snake's body, folding her long form at that point, both of them flying across the front and using her to crash into many trees.

Many trees were torn down as collateral damage, and even Lucien was scared of becoming collateral damage himself.

The white serpent uncoiled herself from the wreckage of splintered wood, her scales now streaked with dirt and her own crimson blood. But her eyes burned with primal fury—she wasn't finished yet.

With a bone-chilling hiss, she began to move in a hypnotic pattern, weaving through the air in impossible spirals. Her white aura intensified, and suddenly there weren't one, but dozens of afterimages trailing behind her movements. The technique was mesmerizing, deadly—designed to confuse prey before the killing strike.

The man simply stood there, stick resting casually on his shoulder, watching with the mild interest of someone observing an interesting insect.

The snake struck from seven different angles simultaneously, her real body hidden among the afterimages. Any normal opponent would have been shredded instantly.

The man didn't even lift his weapon. Instead, he took a single step forward.

The air itself seemed to ripple around him, and every single afterimage—including the real serpent—was caught in what looked like invisible threads. The snake found herself suspended mid-strike, her massive coils frozen in the air as if trapped in solidified space itself.

The man casually reached up to pluck an apple from a nearby tree as if he had all the time in the world.

"Is this how you plan to defeat me? With illusions? How disappointing."

He bit into the apple with a satisfying crunch.

The serpent's eyes widened in terror as she finally understood what she was facing.

This wasn't just a strong human—this was something that existed on a completely different level of reality. Mirage Dance was one of her most powerful third ascension skills, one that had never failed her, and it was being casually dismantled by someone who wasn't even paying full attention.

"Now then..."

The man tossed the apple aside.

"I want to be over with this so I can explore what the world has become."

He finally lifted his stick, and the wooden weapon began to glow with a soft, blue light. The serpent, still trapped in the spatial distortion, could only watch as he drew a simple circle in the air.

The circle hung there for a moment, then began to spin faster and faster until it became a disc of pure energy. The man flicked it toward the snake with the casual motion of someone skipping a stone across water.

The disc passed through the serpent's body without cutting her, but everywhere it touched, her white scales turned black, then crumbled to ash. The effect spread along her length like a slow-burning fuse—not painful, but absolutely unstoppable.

The man smiled gently and did her the kindness of explaining.

"Temporal Decay. Your cells are experiencing rapid aging in localized patches. Don't worry—it won't kill you. But you'll be molting for the next few hours, and you won't have enough energy left to maintain ascended form for at least six months."

The serpent let out a sound that was half-screech, half-whimper. The spatial threads released her, and she collapsed to the ground, her once-magnificent white scales now patchy and dull. She tried to slither away, but her movements were sluggish, exhausted.

The man walked over and gently tapped her on the head with his stick.

"Off you go then. And next time, pick your battles more carefully. There are some fish that are simply too big for your pond."

The humiliated serpent managed one last venomous glare, but she did not slither away. Instead, she turned and slithered toward Lucien.

The man froze with a confused expression as he watched the enormous snake—which had significantly reduced in size—curl around his target.

He lowered his brows into a frown.

"That can't be good. Why do you have to be so stubborn?"

Lucien, meanwhile, was confused as hell.

'What the hell is she doing?!'

At the same time, the chains surrounding him suddenly turned to blue sparks and disappeared, releasing him—but now he was trapped within the coiling body of the serpent.

The serpent looked at the man viciously.

"If you want him to live... back off."

The man froze for a moment, confused, then he smiled.

"I'm not sure what I want myself. You can suit yourself... I thought you were protecting him, though?"

The serpent also widened her eyes in confusion.

"I thought you were trying to protect him..."

She looked at Lucien, who was scolding her seriously with his eyes and gagged mouth. She dispelled the gag too, and her vicious eyes narrowed.

"Ahhhh! Dammit! I've been trying to tell you—this isn't my partner! My partner is a girl!!"

The snake looked at Lucien, confused for a moment. Then suddenly, the entire forest shuddered.

"Who are you calling a girl, you homemade cunt?"