I Can Assimilate Everything Chapter 717: A Target!

Captured in a moment of suspended animation, the crimson-haired woman appeared as though she had always existed within that stillness, as if the halting of time was merely a backdrop to her movements, not an impediment.

Achilles observed her, his gaze sharp as starlight, absorbing every nuance of her expression and stance, even as her words remained unfinished.

Her crimson-gold eyes met his, possessing an unnerving quality, hinting that she had already foreseen the conclusion of their exchange.

"Certain matters are beyond my ability to fully disclose," she stated.

Her voice, a carefully modulated instrument, conveyed the impression of someone meticulously censoring their thoughts in real-time. The unspoken words seemed to occupy a far greater volume than those she permitted to escape.

"However, I can extricate you from your current predicament and subsequently propose a formidable alliance in return for a specific requirement."

She tilted her head slightly, a gesture that suggested genuine intrigue despite a clear familiarity with the situation.

"We require an individual with your unique competencies due to an adversary of exceptional resilience. You are not yet acquainted with him, but that will change. When it does, you will comprehend the lengths I have gone to, traversing time itself, to engage in this discussion before that fateful encounter."

The frozen temporal state seemed to amplify her declaration.

"There exists an immensely powerful foe known as THE Osmontian. He is the scourge of innumerable beings across vast scales and realities yet unknown to you. I am among many tasked with devising unconventional strategies to thwart him, as conventional power and methodologies have repeatedly proven insufficient."

Her crimson-gold eyes intensified, locking onto the crucial point of their conversation.

"You, Achilles Adrastia, are another pivotal figure in the grand tapestry of history. I am aware of your capacities, your Way of Assimilation, and its potential when granted adequate access and might. Should you achieve sufficient power and access, my intention is to provide precisely that—the means for you to achieve what no other being in existence has managed."

...!

Achilles's eyes sparked with recognition at her words.

THE Osmontian.

He inwardly shook his head as the name resonated within him, connecting with all the implicit information the woman had conveyed. The gravity of his predicament became starkly apparent, even with the details she deliberately withheld. Every path he considered seemed fraught with extraordinary difficulty.

Yet, he contemplated the situation with clarity.

If an enemy was so perilous that individuals like this enigmatic woman felt compelled to journey through time in search of solutions unattainable in the present, then involvement in such a conflict was undeniably hazardous.

And yet...

The allure of the unknown, the potential held within such profound danger, ignited a curiosity that had always guided his choices over caution when the stakes were significant. More pragmatically, his immediate survival offered little alternative. Declining this woman, capable of freezing even the formidable Silurian Paleozoic Scale father of Mansa Nguna, would likely result in his swift demise. Preserving his recently transformed body for even a few additional moments to gather more information seemed prudent.

Thus, for the immediate prospect of continued existence.

"Can you elaborate on this Osmontian?" he inquired.

...!

A brilliant smile bloomed on the woman's face, the radiant expression of one whose prolonged patience had finally yielded reward. Her crimson hair seemed to shimmer with a light defying the frozen instant.

With a snap of her fingers, they vanished.

---

The world snapped back into motion.

Mansa D’Kuku materialized in the now-empty space, his torrents of Infinity and Observable Force still aggressively scouring the area, the relentless THE Unending Pursuit Pulse actively engaged in its search.

His golden-flame eyes swept the wreckage of the laboratory, searching with undiminished fury for the signature his Pulse had been tracking.

Nothing remained.

The signature had vanished completely, not simply moved on but genuinely erased from existence in a manner that indicated it hadn't just relocated but had been excised from the very causal chain his Pulse relied upon for function. He stood in the void where Achilles had been moments before, a savage fury igniting within him – the rage of one who had arrived precisely at their intended destination only to find nothing to validate the arduous journey.

BOOM!

At this opportune moment.

A horrifying torrent of Infinity cascaded downwards, striking him square in the chest from an unexpected trajectory. The assault erupted across his very foundations with a force that hurled him backward through the fractured space. This wasn't the destructive impact of raw damage, but a demonstration of immense power, a display of capability rather than an attempt at annihilation.

With the practiced grace of reflexes honed over countless eons, he arrested his momentum. His expression shifted from pure rage to a complex mix of simmering fury and the sharp, sudden focus of someone who had just become aware of a crucial variable absent from their previous calculations.

A disembodied voice resonated through the void, its source impossible to pinpoint.

"Release your grief over the loss of your daughter."

The words bore down on him with an imposing authority, clearly not a mere suggestion.

"Your House shall then be ascendant, standing above all other Superbius Houses within this Observable Existence."

...!

These pronouncements carried a profound weight, imbued with a power far exceeding their simple volume. They pressed against Mansa D’Kuku’s very foundations with the gravity of a promise from a being that did not make commitments it lacked the power to fulfill.

He appeared burdened, a conflict clearly visible in his demeanor!

A silent moment stretched.

Then, grit teeth, tears streamed unbidden down his face for his daughter. This was the raw grief of a father, a vulnerability that no amount of power or cultivation had ever equipped him to conceal. He allowed them to fall freely, making no attempt to stem the tide, honoring his profound loss in the only way the situation permitted.

Then, he drew himself upright.

His expression settled into a resolute firmness, the unmistakable mark of a decision forged at a significant, personal cost.

"Understood."

...!