MIGHT AS WELL BE OP Chapter 1007: A Flash

Aura Nova endured yet another excruciating surge of torment. It was as if a savage horde of evolved piranhas gnawed relentlessly at her innards, ravaging her tissues and guzzling from her bloodstream. Each nerve ignited in flames. Every piece of her essence howled in protest. Yet she pressed on, bearing it all.

With gritted teeth and shaky determination, she abruptly cut off her mana stream, causing the Void Portal to implode and disappear in that very moment. As a result, the ferocious lightning entity ripping apart her form faded away at once.

However, the harm was already done.

She hung in the air like a scorched cadaver. A foul odor of seared meat wafted around, heavy and revolting. Her previously immaculate skin had cracked and darkened, resembling a figure sculpted from soot. Her stunning allure and otherworldly locks were gone completely. She drifted feebly, as if the world itself scarcely allowed her to persist.

The agony surpassed all limits. Her lungs scorched fiercely. Her liver seemed torn open. Her heart twitched wildly. Even her mind pulsed with burning anguish. All parts of her frame cried out together. She wasn't at the Apexus Mana Rank, where bodily harm and discomfort became insignificant and only core essence damage truly counted. No, she hadn't crossed into that divine realm. At her present stage, all hurts were profound. All gashes were tangible. Every instant of pain was unbearable.

Her mana flared up again, surging in a precise burst. Within a blink, all wounds erased themselves as if they'd never occurred. Her body mended fully. Her internals steadied. Her blackened shell melted into flawless glory. It felt like the fabric of reality had been reset.

Her eyes turned to Anthony, who hovered steadily afar with that persistent, aggravating smirk on his lips. She stayed quiet, but her thoughts churned wildly.

She recalled Lucian's caution vividly. He'd warned of a brief lag after each Command from her inborn power. A tiny delay. A split-second weakness. Now, it was clear—Anthony seized that opening without mercy. Without that pause in her Commands, she could have held the balance in this fight. But that tiny interval sufficed for a foe like him.

'Quantum Manipulation...' her inner voice mused, 'it appears I need more honing and advancement.'

Locking her stare on Anthony, she uttered once more, her mana expanding like a boundless sea testing the limits of the isolated realm.

Mana and Time particles exploded outward at the same time, spreading waves across the whole isolated plane under her dominion. In the following moment, all motion halted.

Time halted. Mana circulation stopped. Light beams paused in flight. Even the breeze hung motionless. The full realm turned into a hushed, static canvas.

Brilliance gathered around Aura Nova, growing fiercer with every tick of time. Her figure shone more intensely as a massive ray of refined oblivion took shape in front of her. It throbbed with quiet inevitability.

She unleashed it without pause.

The ray surged ahead through the still realm and struck straight into Anthony’s torso with immense power. But no blast followed. No tremor. No landscape ruin. It wasn't built for drama. It aimed for total obliteration.

Its sole goal: wipe the objective from all being.

And upon touching, Anthony disappeared— no remains. No traces. No ripples. He just ended. Aura Nova regarded the vacant spot where he'd hovered. Yet no victory surged through her. No ease. She wasn't foolish. No world existed where Anthony fell so simply. If so, Lucian and Aaaninja would have crushed him ages ago with ease.

'An illusion,' the truth hit her right away.

Her view of reality flipped. Veils lifted. Deceptions melted. Mirages shattered.

She pierced all the veils, but insight arrived a sliver too slow. Now before her eyes gleamed a katana's edge already arcing at her throat.

Her instincts kicked in automatically. Space warped sharply near her, and with a mere idea, she blinked from sight. But fleeing demanded a price.

She materialized far off, and crimson spurted from her throat. It was already sliced halfway from her frame. A mere extra pulse's delay, and full beheading would have claimed her.

This round, she skipped Perfect State. Her natural healing rushed in, weaving meat and fibers rapidly as the gash sealed shut.

From a distance, she fixed on Anthony. As the duel dragged on, the fact sharpened: this fight was futile.

By now, just one choice lingered—her ultimate, mightiest Command. She trusted even Anthony couldn't defy it. She'd deployed it against Kingsley and triumphed. In her duel with Lucian, she'd neared unleashing it before sudden beheading halted her. If successful then, victory would have been hers.

This time, no second thoughts.

The instant it triggered, the world shifted.

She slipped into Root Access Mode. A divine, hypnotic celestial phase wrapped her. Her eyes turned spectral, glowing past human grasp, as if viewing all existence levels at once. She rose further skyward. Mana howled and thundered nearby as if she birthed it. Her tresses altered, threads turning to every hue conceivable, sparkling with unreal splendor.

Her sight lowered to Anthony. When she voiced, her tone held ultimate dominion, the sort that could sway even self-proclaimed Gods.

Her statements ruled. Reality twisted to comply. Being adapted. Structure reformed to meet the decree.

But... nothing shifted.

Anthony stayed put, drifting lightly in the sky. His face remained unchanged. It was like her decree was merely a light breeze's murmur.

Aura Nova's brow creased. Though she'd wielded this power just once in her life, she knew its vast might. It wasn't resistible. No entity should brush it off. Yet he lingered unscathed. Before another decree could form, a sound reached her.

Her eyes bulged in pure, stark disbelief; Anthony’s tone, from right behind. She hadn't felt his shift. She hadn't noted any shift. In Root Access Mode, she should crown all, nearing the peak power form. And still, she'd missed any stir.

Before her skull could swivel, before her mind could grasp the outrage,

Her throat parted fully from her body at such baffling velocity that the sword stayed unseen. And thus, Aura Nova fell to Null Anthony via beheading.