Cosmic Ruler - Chapter 236

Chapter 236: Slaying the Serpent

Aiden continued to wrap his Destiny Thread around the Sea Serpent, but the creature’s violent thrashing made it extremely difficult to maintain control.

Thud!

He was suddenly thrown back into a crack in the seabed, but he pushed himself out and rushed toward the serpent once more. The serpent’s eyes glowed ominously as it locked onto the incoming Aiden, then it roared—a deep, bone-chilling sound. But this roar wasn’t just a warning; it was accompanied by millions of water needles, each the size of a spear, shooting toward him at incredible speed.

Aiden’s eyes widened in alarm as he saw the oncoming barrage. “Does he want to pierce me to oblivion?” he mumbled under his breath. Without hesitation, he waved his Destiny Thread forward, creating numerous shields made out of the shimmering threads.

“Absolute Destiny,” Aiden murmured, and the threads began to shine with a bright, almost blinding light.

[Absolute Destiny: Enhances the toughness and defense of the threads, making them equivalent to your own Luck and Destiny.]

It was one of his Martial Spirit’s most practical skills, and it required a significant amount of luck to be effective. But Aiden was confident in his chances. The threads formed an intricate web of protection around him, each strand glowing with the power of his destiny.

The water needles slammed into the shields with immense force, but the threads held strong, deflecting the deadly projectiles. The serpent continued to roar, pouring more of its energy into the attack, but the Absolute Destiny skill ensured that Aiden’s defense remained unbreakable.

As the last of the water needles were deflected, Aiden saw his opportunity. The serpent was vulnerable, its energy drained from the failed attack. With a determined look, Aiden tightened his grip on the threads, reinforcing them with his own power. He then sent the threads surging forward, wrapping them even more tightly around the serpent’s massive body.

The serpent struggled, thrashing wildly in an attempt to free itself, but the threads held firm, cutting deeper into its scales and flesh. Blood began to pour from the wounds, staining the surrounding water a deep red.

Aiden knew he had to end this quickly. With one final push, he channeled all of his remaining energy into the threads, causing them to glow even brighter. The threads constricted with immense force, and the serpent let out a final, pained roar before its body went limp.

[Destiny Severance: An offensive skill that enhances cutting power based on one’s luck.]

The skill not only killed the serpent but also sliced it into numerous pieces, each fragment of its body drifting away like fish in the water.

A notification flashed before Aiden’s eyes:

[Title Obtained: Lesser Dragon Slayer]

Aiden paused, staring at the title and the notification in disbelief. “Lesser Dragon?”

[Yes, it was just one evolution away from becoming a dragon. Poor thing, you killed it before it could complete the transformation,] Nexus explained.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Aiden yelled, pulling at his hair in frustration.

[What happened?] Nexus asked, confused by his reaction.

“Don’t ‘what happened’ me! We had the chance to have a dragon, and not just any dragon—a potential Time Dragon!” Aiden shouted, but his words trailed off as he noticed something strange. The pieces of the serpent’s body were beginning to glow with a purplish energy, and as if someone had hit the rewind button on time, the fragments started to piece back together.

Slowly, the entire serpent reformed before Aiden’s eyes, its body still bloodied from the earlier battle but unmistakably alive.

[You got a second chance,] Nexus remarked.

“Oh, fuck,” Aiden muttered, watching as the serpent’s entire body began to glow with the same purplish energy.

[It seems that in its final moments, it grasped more of the Time Rule—enough to rewind time, but not completely. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be bloodied all over,] Nexus observed.

Aiden gritted his teeth. The serpent, now radiating with newfound power, was far from defeated. The battle wasn’t over, and this time, Aiden knew he’d be facing an even more dangerous opponent.

“Time for Round Three,” Aiden muttered under his breath as the serpent began to morph. Its long, serpentine body became more distinct, shifting into something far more formidable. Two purplish horns sprouted from its head, adorned with mysterious symbols that seemed to pulse with an otherworldly energy. The creature’s eyes, once wild and primal, now gleamed with a newfound wisdom.

Aiden stared at the serpent, dumbfounded, as the creature smirked, its once beastly gaze now filled with a cunning intelligence.

[He just evolved. Not into a full dragon, but a pseudo-dragon,] Nexus explained.

“Please, can’t I have a single day without extra worry? I’m not a damn protagonist!” Aiden yelled in frustration, trying to swim away. But suddenly, he felt his fish-like tail—his fins—caught in the serpent’s mouth. “How is he so fast?” Aiden thought, just before the serpent slammed him into a crack in the cliffside.

“I really hate getting smashed into cracks,” Aiden mumbled, trying to push himself out. But then he heard something that made his blood run cold—his own voice.

“What the fuck?” Aiden looked down at his hands, only to see they were no longer his. They were small, almost childlike. Panic surged through him as he realized what had happened.

The serpent’s mastery over time had regressed him, trapping Aiden in a younger, weaker form. His mind raced as he struggled to comprehend the situation. “Did it… Did it just turn me back into a kid?” Aiden mumbled, disbelief mixing with fear.

[Yep, it sure did,] Nexus replied calmly, almost too calmly for Aiden’s liking.

“I really wonder where your calm is coming from?” Aiden grumbled as he quickly jumped out of his position, just in time to avoid the serpent’s massive, glowing tail that smashed into the spot where he had just been standing.

“Really now, what’s next? You want to regress me back to a sperm?” Aiden muttered sarcastically, feeling the pressure of the battle as he moved to avoid the serpent’s attacks.

[By the way, your eyes are healed,] Nexus suddenly informed him.

Aiden paused mid-dodge, momentarily taken aback. He stopped relying on his Spirit Sense and focused on his vision. “Yeah, they’re healed,” he muttered in disbelief, blinking as he took in his surroundings with clear sight for the first time in what felt like ages.

But his moment of relief was short-lived. Now that he could see properly, Aiden got a full look at the creature he was up against—the Pseudo Dragon. Its body was more terrifying up close, with shimmering, purplish scales that glowed ominously, horns that radiated power, and eyes that burned with intelligence and malice.

The dragon’s body is massive, easily stretching over a hundred feet in length, with a serpentine form that moves fluidly through the water. Its scales, once a dull gray, now shimmer with a deep purplish hue, each one glowing faintly as if infused with the essence of time itself. The scales are arranged in intricate patterns that seem to shift and change subtly, almost like the flow of time across its body.

Two large, curving horns sprout from its head, radiating a purplish energy that pulses in sync with the creature’s heartbeat. These horns are inscribed with mysterious, ancient symbols that seem to flicker and change, as if written in a language lost to time. The horns serve as conduits for its time manipulation powers, allowing it to bend and twist reality to its will.

Its eyes, once bestial and filled with rage, are now sharp and calculating, glowing with an eerie light. They reflect the wisdom and malice of a creature that has lived through countless ages. When it looks at its prey, it’s as if it can see not just the present, but every possible future outcome of the battle.

The dragon’s mouth is filled with rows of razor-sharp teeth, each one capable of shredding through steel, and it often reveals them in a menacing smirk. When it opens its mouth to roar, the sound is not just a deafening bellow but also carries a strange temporal resonance, causing time to warp around it.

Its tail, long and powerful, is adorned with spiked fins that glow with the same purplish energy. The tail moves with incredible speed, almost faster than the eye can follow, and can create shockwaves that ripple through both water and time.

Aiden snapped out of his daze and began to swim away as the Pseudo Sea Dragon pursued him. “By the way, didn’t you say I couldn’t heal my eyes until I reached the Divine Realm?” he asked, his voice laced with confusion.

[Yes, but that changed the moment you came into contact with that time stone shard,] Nexus replied.

[Time in this world is one of the Supreme Laws, empowered by the world itself. It’s capable of melting away your seal. Now that the Serpent has mastered a fragment of its time shard, it has grasped a powerful rule, allowing it to reverse time on anything, including you,] Nexus explained.