MIGHT AS WELL BE OP Chapter 1011: You Really Are Too Talented

Aaaninja clenched his jaws while striving to hold back. His personal aura strove to expand outward, surging up on pure instinct in rebellion, yet prior to its full manifestation, it got utterly pulverized as if it had never been at all. Anthony stayed mute, advancing with steady, deliberate paces toward Aaaninja, who knelt there oppressed by the vast disparity in raw aura.

Halting right in front of Aaaninja, Anthony looked down upon him. His gaze held tranquility, and his face reflected that inner peace. No sign of conceit or overbearing pride showed in his bearing, nor any hint of ridicule or vanity. It was merely the subdued assurance of one who understood he towered well above any feats even the greatest oddities might aspire to reach.

Aaaninja’s gaze blazed with resistance.

Indeed, he recognized the gap separating him from Anthony. Indeed, he sensed the abyss dividing them. Yet that failed to strip away his resolve to battle right up to the finish. No, he intended to carry on until the outcome revealed itself. Such was his character. No matter how impossible the chances, he would still press onward.

And moreover... he possessed fresh powers now, certainly one among them would prove effective, certainly one would aid his breakout from this oppressive bind. Fueled by that resolve, he directed the Time particles and mana encircling him.

Fractured Concept Of Ti—

Yet prior to completing his directive to the Time particles, Anthony uttered, his tone serene; “Authority Of Severance.”

In Anthony’s sight, the world inverted. Existence reshaped into an enormous fabric woven from innumerable luminous, streaming strands that extended infinitely through all being. Each event, each power, each bond appeared as a filament in that colossal universal weave.

Anthony’s azure eyes settled on Aaaninja. Uttering no further words, he cut every strand linked to powers and techniques.

The instant after, Aaaninja’s eyes bulged in terror and utter astonishment as he abruptly sensed his mana evaporate. Not fade. Not dwindle. Evaporate. It ceased as if it never had been. His inherent tie to the Time particles evaporated too. Even his bond with the River Of Time itself faded entirely. The spirit arts and techniques he had honed relentlessly over years were erased. His link to the blade at his hip dissolved as if it never existed.

Even the recent powers he had labored to obtain got wiped out before they could fully take form. And finally, though no less significantly, his Eyes Of Genesis disappeared as well. What had been godly insight now left just plain white eyes, indistinguishable from Veronica’s.

“How...?” Aaaninja whispered softly while grappling to grasp what occurred. He had abruptly forfeited it all. “What sort of power is that?” he inquired, his pale eyes locking onto Anthony’s azure stare.

Anthony offered a slight smile, yet he skipped the query. Rather, he remarked something unrelated, “when you lose, don’t bother going to the past like you did the last time. It would change nothing.”

Aaaninja froze in shock anew. In the Starborn Tournament defeat against Anthony, he had covertly traveled back through time via his mind’s projection into history. His aim had merely been to decipher his loss.

But Anthony shouldn’t have known.

‘Did the past Anthony relay to the current and future versions?’ he pondered within.

That... shouldn’t have been feasible.

“You truly possess excessive talent, Aaaninja Chronisynth Eternos,” Anthony stated evenly, as if declaring an indisputable truth.

Next, he lifted one finger and, with speed surpassing anything Aaaninja had ever seen or matched, Anthony slashed that finger over Aaaninja’s throat.

No ripping noise... No grand collision. Aaaninja’s head simply rose into the sky. Then it dropped to the soil with a heavy thump. Crimson sprayed with a strange patter. Shortly after, with one last inert bump, Aaaninja’s remains toppled onto the ground.

Anthony remained still, gazing at the form below. After a beat, he exhaled softly, then, via a mere mental command, he reconnected the threads he had broken with the Authority Of Severance, returning every power he had removed to the deceased Aaaninja.

‘Perhaps I overdid it this round,’ Anthony mused to himself. But soon, he gave a faint head shake. Aaaninja’s psyche wasn’t fragile enough to break from a setback like this. ‘Maybe next time... I’ll let him showcase his freshly gained powers,’ Anthony decided inwardly, then he averted his eyes.

“Null Anthony wins.” Klaus’s voice boomed from overhead, though laced with a subtle disappointment.

Anthony exhaled again, then faded from his spot, finding no cause to remain. The second he vanished, the Time particles near Aaaninja started to quiver. They gathered around his frame, whirling with time-warping chaos. His detached head and body shimmered out of existence before stuttering back into view.

Soon, Aaaninja rose intact once more. Breathing. As awareness flooded back, recollections of his last instants surged into his thoughts simultaneously. He stayed quiet for a spell, absorbing all that transpired in merely minutes.

Saying nothing, he inspected each power and technique, verifying that they all had reappeared and operated flawlessly.

‘What manner of being is he...?’ Aaaninja reflected mutely. He lingered there awhile, uncertain how to respond to such dominating might. He recalled the divide between them. He recalled how Anthony had divested him of every power without so much as a gesture.

And he couldn’t avoid pondering, was that power lasting? Or merely fleeting? The idea of such a force being enduring chilled him deeply. The disasters it might unleash defied comprehension.

Aaaninja breathed out softly before shutting his eyes, then reopened them. He had anticipated this instant for full three years, three years of drilling, three years of readying... And it concluded in what...? Mere minutes?

His mind gradually turned to another person; Lucian Darkheart. The individual who had consistently cautioned him about Null Anthony. Upon reflection, something seemed off. Both he and Lucian encountered Anthony on that very same day, so why had Lucian always seemed so sure Anthony would stay unbeatable?

‘He surely knows details,’ Aaaninja settled in his thoughts; he would question Lucian at the right moment.

Aaaninja sighed again as the burden of defeat weighed profoundly on him. It ached more intensely than anticipated, yet nothing further remained here; he shook his head faintly, then, wordlessly, he dissolved from his position, abandoning the arena.

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