MIGHT AS WELL BE OP Chapter 1004: Not Enough

The atmosphere surrounding Anthony’s katana, Aura Nova’s blades, and their forms howled and quivered wildly in complete frenzy, as if existence barely withstood the immense pressure emanating from them. Aura Nova’s azure eyes stayed fixed on Anthony, steady and unyielding, like any tiny distraction might prove fatal. She refused to glance elsewhere.

The very next instant, Anthony grinned slyly. He had already detected the inner boost that Aura Nova performed. Recognition hit him right away. Honestly, he had to concede, it was a brilliant idea. Bolstering her body from within using Sword Intent to toughen muscle strands, hone response pathways, and fortify bone structure wasn’t a notion many would grasp so swiftly amid battle. It was clever. Streamlined.

Yet, for all its ingenuity, it fell short of rivaling his power or his velocity.

In the following moment, his katana gleamed into action.

What ensued wasn’t one blow, but a tempest, a nonstop deluge of sword strikes released in an unbroken rush. Every cut blazed with incredible quickness, exactness, and ruthlessness. The wind wailed as the edge sliced through it, and each swipe targeted Aura Nova with lethal, deliberate intent. It wasn’t chaotic fury. It was polished devastation.

Aura Nova’s brow furrowed as the onslaught rushed at her. Despite her inner boosts engaged, she sensed the choking intensity woven into Anthony’s assaults. The immense weight of power in every cut was crushing.

However, she didn’t protest. She didn’t waver. She just sprang into response.

Her figure blinked away, breaking apart into countless ghostly afterimages. Every afterimage copied her flawlessly, charging ahead to clash against Anthony’s strikes directly with destructive might and insane accuracy. She weaved over the combat zone at ridiculous pace, beyond what eyes could track, beyond deliberate mind, beyond thunderbolts tearing the heavens.

Still, Anthony’s barrage of edges matched it without effort, like she was merely a youngster trying to flee inevitable fate.

With a deafening roar, the leftover scores of blows smashed into her shape. Debris and haze exploded fiercely, smothering the fight area as the ground underneath ripped open indiscriminately. The very fabric of space appeared to shatter beneath the colossal might.

Aura Nova experienced agony piercing her head as her frame suffered from countless sword wounds. Cuts zigzagged across her skin in savage designs, each gash pouring out blood freely while metal ripped cruelly through her. She needed no proof. She realized. Without the Sword Intent bracing her from inside, those slices would have dug far further, much deeper.

Her healing kicked in without delay.

Tissue mended visibly in moments. Bleeding halted as injuries closed up. Muscle threads reconnected and reinforced. Skeleton rebuilt without flaw.

’It’s still not enough,’ she pondered inwardly.

Though bolstered by the Sword Intent inner boost, she couldn’t keep up with the raw quickness and might propelling Anthony’s strikes. The divide separating them stayed enormous.

Nevertheless, she refused to yield. No, this remained a training bout, and she intended to squeeze every bit of progress out of it.

The following split-second, Anthony closed in on her, his katana arcing without mercy, paying no mind to her sex, the power imbalance, or her ongoing repair. No pause existed in his swing, just swift carrying out.

Aura Nova countered on reflex. Even as her healing wasn’t entirely done, it didn’t stop her from battling at peak level. Suffering meant nothing. Harm passed quickly.

Their weapons neared collision again when, during the arc, Anthony’s katana shifted path with ridiculous simplicity. The shift flowed smoothly, perfectly, nearly like artwork. His target moved from her throat to her torso without any hint.

Aura Nova’s gaze sparked with awareness and recollection.

Lucian had used a comparable maneuver on her previously. Given her gifts and fighting smarts, there was zero chance she’d repeat the mistake. She adjusted her pair of short swords right away, positioning them to catch the redirected blow.

However, she encountered no clash, no resistance, absolutely zilch. Her edges cut through vacant space.

Before understanding could take hold in her brain, a revolting snap of meat ripping resounded over the combat field. Anthony’s katana hadn’t actually deviated; it had only tricked her senses with sheer pace and skill. In a metallic streak, the edge severed her whole right limb cleanly. Metal struck tissue with unsparing exactness.

’What?’ Her mind shook, not due to agony, but from sheer, raw astonishment.

She might have advanced since facing Lucian. Her awareness had refined. Her gut feelings had intensified. Yet the foe before her wasn’t Lucian.

It was Anthony.

And facing him, her effort to defend was doomed right from the start.

With a weighty, nauseous thump, her cut-off arm hit the barren battleground. Crimson sprayed through the sky before splashing on the charred soil.

Aura Nova didn’t pause; she pulled back at once, widening the gap from Anthony while disregarding the hurt pulsing from her stump. Yet the instant she shifted, Anthony had already circled behind her.

He kept up and surpassed her swiftness with absurd simplicity, his actions direct and thrifty, free of unnecessary effort.

Her neck whipped around to his position, and her sight brimmed with a metallic streak dropping at her. Her instincts ignited. She lifted her leftover arm to guard, but once more, the anticipated hit didn’t come. Rather, a crushing blow slammed her chin with superior strength. The surroundings spun wildly, momentum gripped her and hurled her laterally like tossed trash.

Her form gouged the dirt over and over, rebounding off the landscape like a skipping ball, etching furrows with every hit, yet she seized command while airborne.

Spinning with nimble control, she touched down softly on her toes like a feline, skidding rearward over the ruined land. Her palm went to her chin. It dangled loose, but that held no importance.

With a crisp crack, the framework clicked back properly. Her mending had finished its task. Her missing limb regrew perfectly at her side. Tissue, sinew, framework, renewed.

She stood restored, but right then, restoration just signified readiness for more battering.

She resolved right away to go on the attack, without delay, flinging one short sword at Anthony, the edge streaking like a lightning strike.

Anthony, spotting the approaching blade, simply angled his head a bit to the side in a nearly casual way. The short sword zipped by him pointlessly, like mere kid’s game.

Yet the second he evaded, Aura Nova materialized in the air behind him. She had warped exactly to where her tossed short sword went. With fierce resolve, she lashed her leftover edge at Anthony’s skull. But prior to the blow landing, she sensed it live, her assault had faltered.

Something had shifted.

Before bewilderment could solidify in her head, both her hands were detached at the wrists with such exacting accuracy that she hadn’t detected the action.

No alert. No seen cut. Merely void.

Aura Nova disappeared in a flash, blinking miles distant before sliding to stop over the split earth. Her azure eyes fixed on Anthony again, now holding no refusal in them, just enlightenment.

Anthony didn’t chase her straight off; he just pivoted gradually and held her look with a subtle grin. Her strategy had been superb. She had imprinted her short sword with Sword Intent, launched it on purpose, and warped there once he sidestepped. It was strategic. Sharp. But pointless.

Even with eyes shut, such an assault wouldn’t have worked on him. His awareness had already pierced her schemes before she launched them.

And right now, he wasn’t even using Sense Dome. What guided him was simply his innate awareness, bestowed by his vision alone.