The Rebirth of Evelyn Knox

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Evelyn felt like she was once again back at that conveyor belt. Helpless, unable to move, and only able to stare at her slowly approaching death. Only this time, it was a mermaid instead of an industrial meat grinder.

Her only source of relief was that the mermaid hadn't immediately started tearing her apart, and the longer she delayed, the more time there was for her to flip the situation around. Maybe Aurora would come, maybe somehow she could mobilize her strength, or something else.

The half-fish girl rubbed Evelyn's long pink hair between her fingers curiously, and then swam around her in circles, as if observing her from every angle.

It was as if she was trying to decide what kind of thing this was, and had Evelyn not known she might die the next second, maybe she would have found it cute.

Up close, Evelyn noticed that what she had previously thought was some type of armor or clothing that covered the mermaid's chest, it didn't seem to have any seam to put on or take off, and looked more like an exoskeleton, or perhaps… an ability?

The mermaid stopped circling her abruptly as she seemingly made up her mind, and the entire right sleeve of Evelyn's dress was ripped right off before she even realized.

The grade two dress obviously never stood a chance to put up any kind of resistance against this creature's sharp claws, but Evelyn wasn't surprised. What did surprise her, though, was that instead of chomping on her arm after throwing the cloth away, the mermaid actually started stuffing the torn sleeve into her mouth.

… Only to spit it out a few moments later with a disgusted expression.

She gave the pink-haired girl an aggrieved look, as if feeling wronged.

Even if she had been able to, Evelyn wouldn't know how to respond. "…"

'I'm sorry that my dress doesn't taste good?'

Although that thought flitted across her mind for a moment, Evelyn quickly realized something else.

The residents of the lake were clearly used to feasting on humans and beasts alike, but that wasn't necessarily true for this mermaid, who seemed to have awoken from the depths after being disturbed by the chaos bone beast's struggle.

Given the fact that she was able to consume the chaos bone beast like that, even though it was really all bones, it was expected that what the mermaid sought in food must be… energy. And as long as something didn't have enough, it would probably be tasteless.

As Evelyn's mind revolved rapidly, the mermaid looked a lot more hesitant on taking another bite. She even looked in another direction, as if debating whether she should just go back and leave this little morsel to the others.

Thankfully, she didn't really do so, and hesitantly inserted a finger right into the pink-haired girl's belly.

The sharp claw pierced through her soft skin like a hot knife through butter, but instead of being terrified, Evelyn's eyes glinted in excitement.

Although she had been helpless before when surrounded by the lake's restrictions, all she needed from this girl was to not kill her with the first move!

The suppression of the lake was strong, but it wasn't omnipotent. If that had been the case, no one would be able to even defend themselves at all, and their abilities would all dissolve the moment they entered the water.

However, if their energy sources were considered 'wells', the lake's suppression only made it impossibly hard to draw the 'water' out, leaving them helpless. 

Now, however, the mermaid was already in direct contact with Evelyn's well itself!

Had it been anyone else, with their spirit power likely dried out from exhaustion in the lake, they would still have been helpless. In fact, Evelyn's situation wasn't much different, and most of her spirit power really had been exhausted at this point.

But as someone who mostly relied on soul energy anyway… that didn't matter at all!

The mermaid's eyes instantly turned blank as she felt a strange tug deep inside her… and then she entered a strange place.

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Evelyn smiled as she looked at the confused little fish that was now swimming around in her soul space. From the girl's behavior, she had already figured that even if this was a superior creature of some kind… it was just a baby.

Or at the very least, its mind wasn't mature enough to understand most things, and most of its actions were guided by natural instinct and curiosity.

The 'little fish' didn't look very panicked as she swam around the dark 'sea', curiously exploring the strange area she had entered, and Evelyn observed her actions passively for a while.

As this was her own soul space, with Evelyn's comprehension level, it was easy to modify it as she pleased with but a thought.

That didn't mean she was omnipotent here, however.

Looking at the curious half-fish girl flitting around the dark sea, Evelyn couldn't help but frown. "This thing's soul power doesn't seem to be low at all… at least. Maybe even if I had Ruru with me, and we used the Lotus Throne's Nirvana, we could barely come out on top, but…"

Unfortunately, she was alone, and the only assurance Ruru's absence brought her was that in case she died, there was a chance that she might still be able to live thanks to the 'Lotus Throne's Golden Wheel'. What kind of life that would be, however, Evelyn had no interest to find out.

After all, hadn't the previous Lotus Throne perished?

Now that she had a clearer understanding of many things, Evelyn knew that although she couldn't say so for sure before using it, the ability must be some sort of a soul escape, and it was very likely that the perished partner's soul would take temporary residence within the one that still lived.

That is, if Evelyn really died, she would then possess Ruru, and the two would share a body. Having cultivated to this extent… wouldn't that mean most of her hard work would go down the drain?

Gritting her teeth, Evelyn made up her mind and disappeared from her position, only to reappear right in front of the curiously exploring mermaid. 'It's just a baby, I don't believe I can't bully it!'

Evelyn knew that since there was no way to defeat this half-fish physically or even through a soul battle… she must do so mentally!

"What is your name?"

The mermaid blinked at her curiously, as if she found it fascinating how the creature in front of her flapped her mouth.

Evelyn felt her brow twitch as she smiled. "Little baby, don't you know how to speak yet?"

Seeing the creature curiously tilt her head, Evelyn pointed to her mouth and repeated her words, and in response, the mermaid… grabbed her hand and tried to take a bite!

Unfortunately for her, this was still Evelyn's domain, and while she couldn't smother or destroy a soul that was stronger than her own with a snap of her finger, defending herself from someone who didn't know anything about manipulating her soul energy at all… was like snatching candy from a baby.

The mermaid looked shocked when someone smacked her up her head from behind, and she swiveled around with an aggrieved expression, pouting at the pink-haired girl.

"Do you think you can do as you please with me? No one likes little babies who don't know how to behave themselves, you know?"

Although she knew it was unlikely for the mermaid to be able to understand her words, this was her own soul space, after all. Carrying her intent to the other party was simple.

Whether or not she was willing to hear her out, however, was an entirely different thing.

The mermaid obviously didn't want to hear anything, and quickly lunged at her again. This time, her expression was no longer so cute and curious, but ferocious instead, and her speed was fast as lightning.

Had this not been her own soul space, Evelyn believed she would have been torn to shreds before she even realized what was happening.

Unfortunately for the mermaid, however, she picked the wrong place to fight.

Smack after smack landed on the back of her head, and even her fish-butt, and the always silent creature finally started howling in aggravation, as if she couldn't believe someone would hit her like that.

Slowly, her lunges got slower, and then she stopped altogether and just floated there, crying big, pearly tears.

Obtained one drop of [Primordial Naiad's Tears]

Water Affinity increased by one percent!

Current affinity with water is 81%…

Obtained one drop of [Primordial Naiad's Tears]

Water Affinity increased by one percent!

Current affinity with water is 82%…

Evelyn's expression turned blank as she looked at the little baby mermaid crying, and then listened to her continuous system prompts in shock.

Each one of her tears… gave one percent water affinity?!

The pink-haired girl's serious expression quickly melted into a smile, and the mermaid stopped sobbing as she wagged her tail cautiously, as if wondering if she wouldn't bully her anymore.

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